Promises Forgotten
by xRandomestx
Summary: Katie's dying and it's all her fault.Her parents blame her.Everyone hates her.Everyone but the nice man with the cold hands.He can make everything good again and all she has to do is make one little promise,but that little promise will change her forever.
1. COLD, PALE HANDS

She's dying. She's dying and it's all my fault.

I stared at the green hospital door, tears streaming down my young face.

Mummy says it's all my fault, and Daddy hit me. He hit me hard, right on the face. I put my hand up to my hot, red cheek.

They threw me out of the room. They hate me.

It's all my fault.

Some of the nurses and doctors who walked past looked at me confused. Why is this little girl out here all alone? What's wrong with her cheek? But none of them stopped to ask. They were too busy.

They all hated me too.

A tall man in a black wedding outfit came up to me where I sat on the floor. He crouched down beside me and tucked a strand of brown hair behind my ear.

Did he hate me too?

"What is your name?" He had a nice voice. Like Daddy's, better than Daddy's, even back when Daddy didn't hate me. My little body shook with a ragged little breathy sob. I just kept staring at the door. Imagining Katie on the big bed, with all sorts of plastic wires and tubes in her. "Where are your parents? Are they inside that room?" I nodded slowly. "Let me see your cheek, honey." I frowned slightly, and turned my head slightly. But kept my eyes on the big green door. "H-how do you know my name?" I whispered. I saw the man be confused. "Your name? Your name is Honey?" I nodded. And then I slowly turned my head to look at him for the first time.

He was younger than Daddy, but older than my big brother Kevin. He had a dark colour hair, like his mummy had mixed black and brown together in a big mixer and then put it in his hair, and his eyes were blue with silver in them. They were pretty. He had really white teeth, and he looked like a nice man. Mummy always said that I'm not allowed to talk to strangers, or Uncle Mike, who had creepy eyes and long, slimy hair.

But Mummy hated me, and I was angry at her for hating me, even if it was my fault that Katie was dying, and when I was angry, Mummy's rules didn't apply. Even if they did, she couldn't see me talking to this nice man, so it was okay.

"That's a very pretty name Honey. Now, let me see your cheek." I hesitantly showed him it. It hurt lots, but the nice man's cold hands made it all better.

"There you go, good as new. Now, how is your sister?" I stared up at him with wide trusting eyes, as fresh tears spilled over. "She-She's not gonna wake up!" I cried.

The man opened his arms slightly and I threw myself in them, crying more. He didn't seem to mind that I was getting his black wedding clothes wet, not like Daddy did. Daddy always got angry when I cried all over his clothes. He would look at me like I had been bad and then he would walk away.

"Shhh..." The nice man whispered. "I can make everything all better, but you have to do something for me." I pulled from where I had been crying on his chest, I saw a big wet spot there, but the nice man didn't seem to notice. "W-what?" I sniffled. The nice man smiled patiently and took my face in his big, cold hands, wiping the tears off of my cheeks with his thumbs. "I can make Katie better. I can make her wake up." I stared at him for a moment, confused. "You can make her alive?" I said in a little voice, suddenly filled with hope. The nice man smiled and nodded. "Yes, but you have to promise me one thing first." I nodded fast, suddenly filled with joy. The nice man would make everything better! He could make Katie wake up! Then Mummy and Daddy wouldn't hate me anymore! I bounced up and down where I sat, bubbling with excitement. The man laughed and put his cold, strong hands on my shoulder. "Promise me that when you get all grown up, that you will marry my son." I stopped bouncing. "Marry? Like how Mummy and Daddy are married?" The man nodded. "But I'm 6. Mummy said that you have to be older than Kevin to get married and I have to love the boy as much as I love Daddy and Kevin." The man closed his eyes and nodded patiently again as I stood there with a confused look on my face.

"Yes, you'll marry my son when you get much older. I'd say about 10 years or so. You will not see me again until then." The man pulled away from my face, and stood up. He was very tall. Or maybe I'm just really small. "Promise me, Honey. Promise me and I'll make Katie wake up." I forgot completely about what I was promising and I stood up, bouncing up and down again, nodding my head at the same time. I was almost as tall as the nice man's belly button, or where I thought his belly button might be. The man smiled down at me.

"You promise?" He held out one hand. I've seen Daddy doing this to his friends before. I took his hand and it disappeared in his. "Pinkie-promise!" I said. After shaking his hand once I pulled mine back and stuck my pinkie finger out. I wrapped it around his and smiled at him. "Wonderful!" He took his hand back and did a bow, like the ones I saw in that movie that time. I giggled and curtsied. "Until we meet again, Honey." And then he turned around and was gone.

That night, just like the nice man said. Katie woke up.

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**Man, I'm just full of storys this week...weird.**

**Lyss.**


	2. ACCIDENT

Chapter 2

6 years later…

"Katie! Katie get up! It's your birthday! Get _up_!"

Katie's baby blue eyes opened and she sat up, rubbing them tiredly. "Wha?" She said still half asleep. "It's your birthday!" I laughed, bouncing up and down on the spot. Katie stared at me confused for a moment, before her eyes widened and all signs of sleepiness disappeared. She threw back her blanket and stood up, jumping on her bed, giggling excitedly. I laughed with her and then opened my arms. Katie jumped into them and I swung her around, trying to keep her soft blonde hair out of my mouth. "It's my birthday!" She yelled in my ear. I put her down, letting her grab my hand and drag me out of her room and down the stairs. "It's my birthday! It's my birthday! It's my birthday!" She yelled on the top of her lungs. I heard a bedroom door open upstairs and a sleepy Kevin appeared. He forced himself down the stairs, his mouth stretching into a huge yawn.

Katie's hand disappeared from mine as she took in the scene before her.

There was about a hundred different coloured party balloons spread all over the floor. A pile of presents as high as my waist leaned up against the wall and a big banner was hung above it saying; Happy 6th Birthday!

Kevin came and stood beside me, crossing his arms. He looked angry at something. "Sorry if she woke you up Kevin." I apologized, wrapping my arms around his waist. Kevin was 17 now, and very grown up. "No, it's alright. You know how Katie gets, it's just…" He sighed angrily, gesturing to the decorations.

Katie was busy jumping into the balloons giggling like the little girl that she was.

"Mum and Dad never do all this for us." I finished for him. I sighed sadly.

"Katie's definitely their favourite." I nodded and closed my eyes as Kevin wound his arms around me in a hug. He sighed again and pulled away. I watched him as he snuck up behind Katie, and then grabbed her around the waist, scooping her up into a hug and tickling her at the same time.

Katie's eyes closed and she shrieked a laugh, unable to speak. Kevin tortured her happily.

I sat down and picked up a balloon, wishing someone had done that to me on my 6th birthday, wishing someone had done that to me _ever_. I squeezed the balloon angrily in my hand and it popped, making me flinch instinctively away from it.

"Honey! Those are Katie's balloons!" A loud voice scolded me angrily from behind. I turned around where I sat and looked up at my Dad's angry face. "Go to your room young lady." I blinked in shock. "What?" I asked him, unsure if I had heard him right. "Your father told you to go to your room Honey, so you will damn well go!" My Mum stood behind him, glaring at me angrily, holding a video camera.

I looked back at Kevin in shock. He held Katie in his arms, he had stopped tickling her and now just stood there, glaring furiously at our parents who were sending me to my room because I popped a _balloon. _By accident!

"But it was an accident! I didn't mean to--"

"NOW!"

I stood up and stared straight at my mother. My heart beat sped up, and tears threatened. I backed down, a sick feeling in my stomach. "You'd never be so horrible to Katie would you? You love her. And I'm--I…You don't." And then I walked past her with my head down. I shoved past Dad and ran up the stairs into my room, slamming the door behind me.

I stared at it, and suddenly had a flashback of 6 years ago, when I sat outside a hospital room, with a sore, red cheek. Alone.

I yelled angrily and punched the door, ignoring the cold, sharp pain that sliced over my knuckles as I did. I stood there panting furiously, my head pounding black images of me running away, of my parents not caring. Because they wouldn't. Whoever said when they were furious they saw red is stupid. All I saw was black, black and white expanding stars.

I felt something wet on my cheeks, and the panting slowly turned to sobs. I fell to the ground, all of the anger, subsiding to grief.

My parents hate me.

And it's all my fault.

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**Dooodoodooooooo!!!**

**Depressing huh?**

**It'll get better...**

**Anger is black you know..I've been this angry several times and I've never seen red.**

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**Lyss.**


	3. YEAH, THEY'RE MY FRIENDS

Chapter 3

4 years later…

"Honey, Get _up_! You're going to make Katie late!" I groaned and rolled over, throwing one arm over my face as my Mum flung open the curtains. "Get _up_! NOW!" I heard her stomp out of my room and down the stairs. "UGRGHH!" I groaned again. I hate school. Almost as much as my parents hate me. But whatever. In 2 years I'll be outta here. Away from my parents angry looks and 'Katie this' and 'Katie that'.

It's not that I didn't love my sister like crazy, it's just that I wish my parents didn't. At least not as much as they did.

I took my arm off of my face and stared up at the roof. "Two more years." I sighed, then heaved myself up and started getting ready.

10 minutes later I was shoving a piece of peanut-buttered toast into my mouth, trying to balance my schoolbag on my shoulder, following my angry 10 year old sister out of the front door.

"I swear to God if we're late again…" Katie grumbled. "Hey," I mumbled defensively around my toast. "It wasn't my fault my alarm didn't go off again."

We walked side by side on the path. Katie's hot pink school bag hung loosely from her shoulders and I was still having trouble getting mine to stay on my shoulder. Her blonde hair was in a braid down her back and her blue eyes looked up at me exasperatedly. "It did go off Honey, I heard it." I frowned, taking another bite.

"You were probably still asleep when you turned it off." She shook her head. I considered it for a moment and then shrugged. It was pretty possible.

I finished my toast and wiped my hands on my jeans. We turned the corner and walked for a while longer in silence.

All too soon school came into view and Katie was off, running toward her group of friends. "See ya later!" She yelled over her shoulder. "See ya!" I called back, watching her disappear into the group. That girl is way too popular. I shook my head and headed off in the opposite direction toward the high school.

I walked through the door, and was hit with a sound-wave.

People bustled about in the corridor laughing and arguing and everything else people do in high school. I just slipped through them, trying to stay out of their way. I made it to my locker without falling over or bumping into anyone, I thought I did pretty well, until someone came barrelling into me.

I felt arms wrap around me and I heard someone laughing. I came quickly out of shock. "Potato?" I asked. The person hugging me pulled back and I came face to face with a freckle cheeked, brown eyed, crazy haired Prudence Gordan, or Potato. "Hey what's up?" I asked. Of course she didn't answer.

Potato doesn't talk much. But when you've gone through as much as she had, you can't blame her.

Corey Howard, Potato's long-time boyfriend appeared behind her. Looking as hot as always. He held Potato's and his books casually under one strong arm as he flicked his head to one side, removing the long-ish, dark hair from his eyes. "Hey Honey." He smiled. "Hey Corey." I smiled back. He didn't talk that much either. That's why they were so perfect for one another, but I'd never say that aloud. Too seedy.

I disentangled myself from Potato and turned to my locker, only to be pulled back around. "Wha? What?" I asked her. She pointed at me excitedly and made the number 16 with her fingers before pointing back at me. I looked over at Corey who was gazing down at Potato with a mushy look in his eyes.

I couldn't see why anyone could ever hate her the way her Dad did. She was just so funny. And innocent and all that.

That's why these 2 were my friends. Our parents all hated us, in one way or another. They were the only people in this world who really got me. Who knew what it was like to be hated by everyone.

Corey's Dad had run out on him, his baby sister and his mother when he was 4. And his Mum blamed her kids. Especially Corey.

Potato's Mum had died during childbirth.

And her Dad blamed her for it.

My baby sister had almost died.

And my parents blamed me.

It was funny, we all were hated. And it was all our fault.

But that's why we were friends, because we could see past each other's faults; see the hurt kids underneath.

And we are just kids.

I looked at Potato and rolled my eyes. "Yes, I'm turning 16 in 3 days. Thanks so much for reminding me how old I am." I sighed dramatically as I turned back to my locker and sprung it open. Behind me I heard Potato squealing excitedly. I cringed at the thought of what was going on inside of her mind. She has a thing for extravagant celebration parties.

I closed my locker and turned back to them just as the bell rang for homeroom.

I sighed and let Potato grab my wrist and drag me along behind her next to Corey who was in the same situation. We rolled our eyes at each other and concentrated on not getting bowled over by a soon-to-be-late senior.

My parents hate me.

And it's okay because I don't need them.

* * *

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**Lyss.**


	4. MY BRO AND CO

Chapter 4

School went by in a blur, and soon I was standing by an old oak tree, waiting for Katie to emerge so that we could walk home.

10 minutes later I was still standing there.

15 minutes later…Where is she?

20 minutes… "Right, That's it." I started walking home, arms crossed over my chest.

I walked in the front door and was met by --you guessed it--; Katie. You had chocolate all over her hands and flour in her hair. "Hey Honey, Rebecca's over." She said happily. I frowned at her. "I waited by the tree for like half-an-hour! What the heck are you doing home?!" I asked her, frustration clear in my voice. She frowned at me, licking the chocolate off of her fingers. "Mum picked me up. Didn't she tell you?" And then she shrugged and ran off back toward the direction of the kitchen. "No, as a matter of fact she didn't." I muttered bitterly, and then stomped up the stairs.

Minutes later I was sitting cross-legged on my bed, working through an English assignment, using my shoulder to hold my phone to my ear, talking to my 21 year old brother who was currently backpacking in Portugal with some of his mates.

"Apparently Mum picked Katie up from school with the car, and I was waiting outside for her for like, half-an-hour before I gave up and walked home. And you know what she was doing? Baking a chocolate cake with her friend Rebecca and Mum." I raved angrily to him. "Yep, that sounds like the old lady." He said, sympathetically. I heard his mates yelling loudly in the background. "Enough about me, how's Portugal?"

I heard Kevin yelling at the guys to shut up before coming back, "Sorry Hon, what?"

I laughed. "How's Portugal?" I could hear the smile on his face. "Ah, it's awesome Honey, you'd love it!" And then he started rambling on about what they'd been up to and how he could barely stop his mates from drinking. "You should've come Honey, they don't really have a drinking age here, it's-- HEY! PAUL! WHERE'RE YA GOING?!" He suddenly yelled into the phone. I took it in my hand and held it away from my ear. "Kev?"

I heard him groan. "Sorry Honey, I gotta go, Paul's harassing the neighbours again." I laughed, "Go round 'em up Kev!" He laughed humourlessly. "Haha, yeah…HEY! PAUL LEAVE 'EM ALONE!" I shook my head. "I love you Kev." His smile came back, "I love you too Honey."

We disconnected and I stared down at the phone, an empty feeling in my stomach.

God, I missed him.

Our parents didn't.

But he didn't care, and that's why he _was _Kevin; because he didn't give a damn about what anyone thought, well, except for me. He was my best friend, and I was his.

I sighed and tried to concentrate on my assignment, which wasn't even half done. "Stupid school, stupid assignments…stupid Mum." I grumbled.

_The next day…_

I woke up the next morning to Katie jumping on me. "Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up…" She said over and over again. "Urgh, go away Katie." I groaned. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake _UP_!" She yelled. "UGH! Mu-um!" I yelled trying to push Katie off. "Honey! Listen to your sister." Huh, I should've known she would be on Katie's side. I groaned again. "Okay, okay. I'm up." I yawned widely and ran a hand through my hair. "Hurry Honey!" Katie yelled, running out of my room. I quietly cursed the morning, then got up and ready.

20 minutes later we were out the door and walking down the path to school.

Katie bounced along beside me, and I raised an eyebrow. "Why so bubbly?" Katie just shrugged, her blonde hair bouncing up and down in the ponytails on either side of her head. I watched her for a moment longer before shrugging as well. I'll never understand that girl.

We arrived at school and Katie ran off to her usual group of friends. I walked up the stairs and through the door, wincing slightly at the familiar sound wave.

I made it to my locker, spun the code, got my books and then braced myself for yet another day in high school.

It was uneventful, of course, like all other days.

_Bored…_Was what I was thinking throughout the last 10 minutes of class.

Then the bell rang, and we were free.

I met up with Potato at my locker, she had her bag on her shoulder, and I wondered yet again how the heck she had put all her things away, grabbed her bag, and gotten back here so quickly. She did it every day.

"Hey, Potato." She didn't answer, as usual. I frowned slightly as I took her in. She seemed upset about something. "You okay?" She didn't answer, just kept frowning at the floor. I shrugged and opened my locker. I put my books away in no rush, I had plenty of time until I needed to meet up with Katie at the oak. I felt a tapping on my shoulder and turned to a desperate looking Potato. "What?" I asked. She sighed and pointed behind her. I frowned slightly, not getting it. "Huh?" She pointed behind her again, and still I had no idea what the heck she was doing. She turned on her side, stamped her foot and pointed down the corridor. I shook my head. "What? Corey? He'll be here soon." I turned back to my locker. I heard her growl in frustration.

This was the hardest thing about our friendship; the fact that she didn't talk. I mean, it's not like I could read minds, so how was I supposed to get what she was trying to tell me?

I started shoving books and papers into my back pack when she flicked me on the ear. Hard.

"Ow! What the hell?!" I stepped away from Potato as she glared angrily at me. "What'd you do that for?" I asked, completely baffled. She just turned around and stomped away. "Wait! Potato!" I pulled my hand away from my certainly red ear, slung my bag over my shoulder, slammed my locker door shut and ran after her. What's going on?

I watched as she disappeared around the corner, and I broke into a jog. "Potato! Wait-!" I came around the corner and very nearly crashed into her. She was staring intently into a glass case where a photo of Potato and her soccer team stood together stood framed next to a medium sized shining silver trophy. She turned her head to me and I was surprised to see actual tears in her eyes. She gestured wordlessly to it. "What? The photo?" She nodded, sniffling. I shook my head not understanding. She sighed angrily and pointed to the photo and then to her forehead.

She glared at my blank face and growled, grabbing my arm tightly and pulling me closer. Then she repeated the forehead to photo gesture. "You want me to look at your forehead in the photo?" She nodded vigorously. "Oh, well why didn't you just say so?" I murmured, bending over to look closer.

The mini Potato smiled timidly back at me where she sat in the middle of the group, holding the ball. I remembered when this was taken, I was there. Potato scored all 3 of the goals for her team. She was awesome…and her Dad wasn't there.

I looked closely at her forehead in the picture. I frowned and shook my head. "There's nothing there Potato." I squinted. "Well, there's a blur there but that's probably just a bit of your hair." I straitened up at looked at her as she groaned and covered her face. I don't get it. "What? It's just a chunk of hair on your head. Everyone's got it." Her hands never came away from her face, even as she shook her head and groaned again. Then, as quick as a butterfly she turned and ran for the girl's bathroom. I watched her for a moment, in shock. And then I sighed angrily, fixed my bag and ran after her, pushing through all of the anxious-to-leave students.

I reached the girl's bathroom moments after Potato, cringing as I opened the door to loud sobs. Ugh, I don't have time for this. Katie's waiting. And Mum will go insane if I don't pick her up on time.

All the same I went inside. I had to.

Potato sat on the sink with her face in her hands. Tears dripped through her fingers and onto her light blue jeans, leaving dark splotches. For a moment I had a flash of a man in a suit, a man I had never seen before, and a big wet spot on his chest where I had wept my tears.

The memory --if that's what it was-- disappeared as quickly as it came, and I shook my head.

I walked up to her and put one hand on her shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly. Potato didn't seem to notice. I sighed and looked down at my watch, and cursed mentally. I'm dead. I patted Potato's shoulder. "Wait here. It's okay." I told her soothingly, and then flew out of the bathroom. I walked out into the corridor and headed straight for Corey's locker. He's what Potato needed right now. I walked about 5 steps in the direction of his locker, when the man himself crashed into my side, nearly bowling me over.

If I were anyone else he would've let me fall. My breath hitched in my throat as he tugged me back up by my forearm. I watched, wide eyed as the floor travelled further away.

Only when he flung one arm casually over my shoulder and gazed down at me worriedly did I start breathing again. "Whoa, thanks Corey." I gulped and then remembered Potato. "Corey, Potato's in the bathroom crying all over everything, I think it's because of her soccer photo or something, but I seriously have to go. Can you go console her please?" He nodded wordlessly, of course he would, and headed straight for the bathroom. I put a hand up and started to protest as he walked straight into the girl's bathroom, then shrugged.

Well, that's that. Now for Katie. I turned and ran out the front doors, down the steps and toward the oak tree where we usually met.

But I was too late.

I watched wordlessly as my father's car door slammed and then peeled off down the road. Leaving me here, alone.

I knew for a fact that my Dad had seen me standing here. I could feel his ice cold glare through the rear-view mirror...could feel the _hate_ in it.

I slumped up against the tree, staring sombrely at the 4-wheel-drive as it disappeared around the bend.

I put my head down, and closed my eyes. Gripping the straps on my bag tight, I felt the familiar blackness shooting through me. I felt it roar through my veins, I felt it pounding my head, behind my eyes, and then all at once, it disappeared. My arms fell limp at my sides and I felt weak, defeated and alone. Again.

I clenched my jaw.

2 more years, I reminded myself.

I sighed…

And I started walking.

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***Whistling happily***

**OhMyGod...**

**School starts tomorrow...**

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**ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!**

**!!!!!!!!!!**

**...................**

***Cough***

**Anyway...**

**Thanks to all for reading my 4 little happy chapters...**

**She'll meet the Vampires soon, I PROMISE!**

**Lyss.**


	5. OUTSIDER

Chapter 5

I stood at the end of the drive way of my house.

Just looking at it.

Watching them.

The father had his daughter trapped underneath him on the couch, tickling the life out of her. They were both smiling.

The mother stood in the doorway, a cup of what I guessed was tea folded into her hands, a smile on her face as she watched the father and daughter laugh. Joy and love clear on her face. On all of their faces.

I watched silently through the large lounge room window, not caring if anyone saw and accused me of being a creeper.

I watched as they were laughing, as they were smiling.

The mother stood in the doorway, and I knew that in her mind, all she saw was her family; her husband…and her only daughter.

I was unwanted. I was forgotten.

They were all so happy…without me.

I refused to cry.

Instead, I turned on my heel and I ran.

I ignored the awkward tug of my bag on my back, I ignored the tears on my face, I just ran. And I kept running, until I couldn't run anymore.

I stood in the middle of the path, staring at the ground through the tears, through the blackness. My hands were cramping as I squeezed them tightly into fist. They shook in anger, in sadness, in regret, in loss. I gulped and looked around. I didn't recognise the street. For a second, a pang of fear shot through me. I was lost.

I laughed bitterly, "I've always been lost. I just haven't realised it til now." I whispered. And in my gut, I knew it was true.

I crossed my arms and started walking, slower this time.

Pretty soon I came across a nice, simple looking park. There was a structure in the middle of the sand; a blue ladder going up to a metal platform where a plastic, yellow slide was attached. I walked straight past it, and toward the lonely single swing on the other side. I sat down on it, stretching my arms back and letting my bag slide off and hit the sand with a soft thump.

I sighed and wrapped my hands around the hard, metal chains. Slowly, I began to rock myself back and forth on the swing, my head down, hair falling around my face.

I sat there, wallowing in my emotions, letting the sad, and angry tears fall from my face.

And then he came.

The man was wearing a black suit, his black, or brown hair, --I couldn't tell which-- sat combed over on his pale head, his silvery-blue eyes took in my form as he walked gracefully toward me. His hands pale had disappeared into his pockets and somehow, I knew that they were as cool as a winter breeze. I slowly lifted my head up, tears streaking down my face and as I looked at him. I watched him with a flash of fear. Why is he looking at me like that? His eyes seemed to be sympathetic, compassionate. I quickly wiped away my tears and stood up. Ready to face whatever was coming. As he drew closer my mind flashed through all of the reports on the news and in the paper of girls who had been found raped, and murdered, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Oh, god. Why did I come here?! How stupid can I get?

I expected the man to stop over a metre away from me.

I expected his to stare at me intently.

I didn't expect the memory, the flash of recognition in my mind.

And I definitely did not expect what happened next.

"Hello Honey, remember me?" My eyes widened. How do you know my name? I wanted to ask him, demand from him. But it couldn't get past the terrified in my throat.

I didn't understand why it was there, the terror, but it was. And it glued me to the spot. I couldn't tear my eyes from the man. The man. The nice man. My breathing came in ragged gasps. "You--" I managed to choke out. The man tilted his head slightly to one side. And then closed his eyes for a moment. I just watched him, wide eyed.

My fists shook, but not out of anger. I was scared.

What had I done? This guy…this man. He opened his eyes again. My breath hitched.

"_Promise me, Honey. Promise me and I'll make Katie wake up." I forgot completely about what I was promising and I stood up, bouncing up and down again, nodding my head at the same time. I was almost as tall as the nice man's belly button, or where I thought his belly button might be. The man smiled down at me. _

"_You promise?" He held out one hand. I've seen Daddy doing this to his friends before. I took his hand and it disappeared in his. "Pinkie-promise!" I said. After shaking his hand once I pulled mine back and stuck my pinkie finger out. I wrapped it around his and smiled at him. _

My eyes flew wide. No. No, no, no, no, no… I chanted in my head. I didn't. I wouldn't.

I laughed slightly in nervous terror, "No." I shook my head in denial, the false smile falling from my face before it even really came. That was just a dream. Katie got better by herself, I didn't…I--I…No. Just no.

"Honey, I've kept my side of the deal…" I closed my eyes and shook my head in disbelief. "No. No…" I whispered. I must be dreaming. I'm dreaming. This is all just a dream. Just. A. Dream.

I closed my eyes tightly, squeezing them with al my might, and then opened them again.

And almost whimpered out loud.

He was still there. Watching me with a disappointed look on his face. "I know that you remember me Honey, and I know that you remember our agreement." I just kept shaking my head. It was all that I could do.

The man --certainly not nice-- sighed and brought one white hand out of his pocket and pinched his furrowed brow.

I was feeling slightly light-headed from all of the air I was breathing in way too fast. I looked down in front of his feet, trying to think, to do anything.

"Honey…" He sighed. I snapped my head up and looked at him, my eyes wide, but my eyebrows pulled down. I shook my head once more. "No." And then I turned to my right and I ran.

I ignored the fact that I had left my bag by the swing, I ignored the sand in my shoes and socks. I just ran.

I ran home.

Only to find my little sister, my baby sister…

She was dying. She was dying and it's all my fault.

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**I opened my Msn inbox today and found that I had like, 14 emails, all alerting me to the Fav stories and Fav author and Story alerts things, even though I cleaned it out yesterday. **

**And the Reviews! You guys are legendary!**

**They make me so happy! Even if school did start today...But THANK YOU'S TO ALL OF YOU'S!!**

**Even you quieter people in the back....**

**So yeah...here's Honey's first encounter with the vampires after 10 long years of you guys having to wait. **

**Any questions, any suggestions, any more unbelieveably awesome reviews (even if they're little ones like ****pheobep3****'s one that said simply;** please update **(I love this one the most I think =D))** **just message me.**

**Thanks yet again...and again....**

**Lyss.**


	6. BACK HERE AGAIN?

Chapter 6

I stared at the green hospital door, tears streaming down my face.

Mum says it's all my fault, and Dad hit me. He hit me hard, right on the cheek. I put my hand up to my hot, red cheek.

They threw me out of the room. They hate me.

It's all my fault.

Some of the nurses and doctors who walked past looked at me confused. Why is this girl out here all alone? What's wrong with her cheek? But none of them stopped to ask. They were too busy.

They all hated me too.

A man in a black suit came up to me where I sat on the floor. He crouched down beside me and stared straight at me. "Honey, you made a promise. And if you don't stick to it, well, neither will I." I just kept staring at the door. Imagining Katie on the big bed, with all sorts of wires and tubes stuck deep into her, keeping her alive. "Honey," The man said again, I could tell he was growing impatient. "If you don't agree to marry my son before the day you turn 16, your little sister will die." He said simply.

I didn't look at him.

I wouldn't.

I refused to.

Angry, scared, sorrowful tears trickled down my cheeks. I was scared for myself, for my little sister, angry at this bastard for showing up after all of these years and demanding…well, what he did, and sad. So, so sad.

Because I knew that I had no choice.

I had to agree. But I couldn't.

Everything in me yelled to start screaming every damn profanity I knew in his face. But I couldn't.

I couldn't do anything but sit there and stare into the endless, sickening green. And cry.

The man reached around and took my hand away from my red cheek, and replaced it with his own. His cool touch instantly soothed it. "He shouldn't have hit you Honey," The man told me, his tone kind, but angry and disapproving, but not toward me. Toward the man who hit me. My Dad. The man who hated me. "Nobody should hit you. Ever. I can make sure that nobody ever hurts you again." I just kept staring, but what he said almost made me laugh. Almost.

He was trying to tell me that he would make sure that no one would ever hit me, ever hurt me again. And yet, he was letting my little sister die? He was _making_ her die.

It was his fault.

"You have 2 days. I'll return to hear your decision. I really hope that you make the correct one." The man told me, standing up. And then he walked away. I heard him go.

The 'correct decision'? The 'correct decision' for _me_ would be to put him straight down. I'm 16! I'm not gonna get married! Especially to some random. It was just stupid to even think about.

I sucked in a shuddering breath and then let it out in an equally shuddering sigh.

I brought my legs up to my chest, and wrapped my arms around them.

And then I closed my wet eyes.

And let the blackness take me.

I let it take me to a place where my parents loved me.

Where my friends were happy.

Where I wasn't being forced to marry that man's son.

Because I had to.

Otherwise Katie really would die.

She would be gone.

She would never wake up.

And it would be all my fault.

* * *

**Yo, **

**Nothin' much to say this time.**

**You want me to apologise for it being shorter? Well I won't. -.-**

**......**

**Sorry. School's being confusing and I'm not in the best mood....**

**Anyway, ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!**

***Trumpets sound***

**I've chosen the official song for this story, it's the song that I listen to while I'm writing and I reckon it just goes:**

**_SNOW PATROL - OPEN YOUR EYES_**

**Yeah...=D**

**......**

**Soooooooowww yeah..**

**Oh and by the way pheobep3, No the vampire is not Dracula. I don't know who he is or what he's called. Buuuuut...it's not Dracula. =)**

**Lyss.**


	7. THAT GUY WHOA

Chapter 7

I woke up the next day with my head in someone's lap. I opened my eyes, and rubbed them with one fist. My eyelashes had stuck together with tears, and they felt kinda gooey. When I moved, 2 sets of hands immediately touched me, on my arm, leg and head. I blinked numbly, almost not caring who it was, but I decided to find out anyway. I slowly started to sit up, my muscles and bones aching from the uncomfortable position I slept in.

"Corey. Potato. What are you doing here?" I asked when I managed to see their faces through my messy hair. They didn't answer. Of course.

Potato sat on my left, leaning against the creamy -coloured hospital wall, looking at me distraught, and concerned. She flung her arms around me and held tightly. Corey just sat there as I leaned against him, one arm around my back, and another stroking my hair soothingly.

I sat there in my friend's embrace with my eyes closed, ready for the tears.

But there were none.

We sat there in complete silence, listening to the bustling of the doctors and nurses, and visitors and patients. They all spoke quietly, like you do in a library. But unlike a library, there was the feeling of death…of loss…of grief in the air.

The silence was an unnerving thing, it made me want to run. Run, far, far away and never look back.

But I couldn't move.

I just held on to the last good thing in my life, maybe for the last time. Because after tomorrow, I may never see them again. For a moment, I thought about telling them everything. About what happened 10 years ago, about what happened yesterday. About what I had done. I wanted to scream at them that it was all my fault. That everything I do and everything that goes wrong is all my fault. That they should run away from me as fast as their legs could carry them, before I ruin everything they have left, without even meaning to.

But I couldn't. I guess I was too selfish, too terrified to lose them, to let them know how much it really was my fault that my parents hate me, that Katie was in there dying.

I held onto Potato, burying my face in her shoulder.

"I'm gonna go for a walk." I sighed to them after a while, patting Potato's shoulder, indicating for her to let go. She did, but kept her hands on my shoulders, and looked straight into my eyes, silently asking if I would be alright on my own. I blinked at her once and she nodded, "Do you want us to come with?" Corey asked. I breathed in and shook my head. "I just… need to think." They nodded again. "We'll be down at the café when you need us." I tried a smile. And failed horribly.

We stood up together, and both of them gave me a hug before walking off toward the elevators. They looked back at me and gave me a wave as they disappeared.

I turned to look at the green door for a moment more, before stretching my arms and legs, feeling my joints pop and click. I sighed and sniffed. I crossed my arms and started walking.

I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't know where I was when I got there. It seemed to be a little garden, with several round beds of slightly wilting flowers, an old, tall tree with orange leaves and a single, rusted metal seat beneath. I slowly walked over to it and was a little concerned when it creaked and groaned when I sat down, but it held me.

I sat out there in silence, staring off into space, thinking about what that guy's son would look like. Surely he can't be all that old can he? I mean, the man looked about, well, he looked about 37 or 38 at the most. So his son can't be _old_. Well then, how old is he? What would he look like. I imagined a younger man, with black and brown hair, and silvery-blue eyes. Well, in my mind I could imagine the hair and the suit but the face eluded me. Every time I imagined someone even slightly good-looking, some famous star would pop into my head.

I was starting to give up just when I saw a flicker of movement in the corner if my eye. My head flicked around in surprise and I let out a yelp as I jumped up from the seat.

"Whoa, sorry if I startled you."

I stared wide eyed at the boy who had just appeared out of no where and then immediately looked down in embarrassment in doing so. "Uh, no it's fine. I just, didn't hear you coming." I crossed my arms awkwardly and glanced up at him. He was smirking slightly. "I'm a quiet walker." I swallowed nervously as we sunk into a very awkward silence.

Why the hell was this guy even talking to _me_? Even _looking _at me? I mean, _wow_.

His short light brown hair was spiked and his pale skin was completely unblemished. He had silvery-green eyes that seemed to be sparkling as he looked at me. I couldn't even see what he was wearing, those eyes just held me. I couldn't look down or uncross my arms or say something smart or brush it off or…or…

Some part of me was telling me that something was seriously wrong with my reaction to him; my heart was beating too fast, my breathing too shallow. For the first time ever, I wondered if I might faint. I've never fainted before and I don't really want to in front of this guy. This very, very hot guy.

He was the one to break the silence, after he figured that I wasn't going to speak. "I'm Caleb. Or Kale for short." A smile tugged the corner of my mouth. "Uh, Honey. My name's Honey." Thank god I could speak. I hadn't completely gone into idiot mode. He raised one dark eyebrow. "Honey? As in bee honey?" I blinked and tried to look away, at the white, spiked fence behind him. "Um, yeah. I guess so." I said as my eyes forced themselves back to his. Stupid eyes. Stupid unco-operating eyes.

"You're beautiful Honey." He said suddenly.

I blinked.

"What?" I whispered as he advanced on me, way, way too fast. I stepped back.

"You're beautiful."

It was at that moment that I realised that we were alone. In a garden. By ourselves. And Corey and Potato had no idea I was here.

This time, my reaction to the sparkle in his eye was just pure terror. My heart beat in my ears and through my limbs. I felt it strongly in my calves and the inside of my elbows. The fight or flight instinct kicked in and I spun around.

I managed to run about 3 steps before Caleb appeared in front of me, completely out of nowhere. What the hell?

He was too close. My body, the blood had drained out from my arms and legs and had gone to a more…deeper place. My breathing was quick and my eyes wide.

My messy hair blew across my face as I stared up at Caleb in horror. He gazed down at me, looking so confident, so sure of himself, and I couldn't even bring myself to scream. Instead, I backed up. And Caleb just followed. Until I hit the tree.

But he kept coming, standing right in front of me. If I even twitched on of my fingers I could touch him, that's how close he was.

His scent hit my nostrils at once. He smelled like, well, like the forest, like trees and mud and plants and flowers. It was amazing.

I'm going to faint.

I realised a moment before my knees gave out, but I didn't loose consciousness, and I didn't fall. Caleb's arms wound around me, supporting me. He held me close to him, so, so freaking close. I felt so stupid, like a giant human rag doll. It was all I could do to keep my head up, to keep staring into his eyes. He stared back into mine.

"Be mine." He whispered to me.

Be his? Be his what? Who is he? Why am I letting him touch me?

_Shhhh_, something whispered and all of the rational thoughts flew away.

I nodded, because there was no way I would be able to speak, not with him touching me. And he smiled, brilliantly.

I am definitely going to faint.

But I didn't, coz I just don't faint, even when I want to.

Suddenly, Caleb was leaning in and my head was going crazy. So was my heart, and my chest…I closed my eyes slowly and slightly raised my head, and then…

Gone.

My eyes flew open as I fell to the ground. What the hell? "Huh?" I said, completely and utterly confused. I looked around. "Uhhh…Did I just dream that or what?" I asked myself. I blinked several times and then scrambled to my feet. It hadn't felt like a dream. I put my finger to my lips, gently. He was going to kiss me.

I shook my head.

He had almost kissed me, and I had almost let him.

What the hell is wrong with you Honey?! Are you really _that_ easy?! Who was he? What was he doing here? What had I agreed to?

'Be his'?

So what? First you agree to get married and now you've agreed to 'be his'?

I mean, yeah, I can probably sort of half understand the first one, I was only 6 but now?

I just...just…Ugh!

What. The. Hell.

* * *

**Anyone like this?**

**Tell me.**

**I'll change it...**

**To. Something.**

**=.**

**Lyss.**

**P.S. MOG, 22 REviews! Thank YOU!!! SO MUCH!!**


	8. REALITY SUCKS

Chapter 8

I walked back to my sister's green door, shaken and furious with myself. I was mentally screaming every profanity I knew at myself, and now…I had a headache. Oh my gosh. This day just gets better and better.

I leant up against the wall in front of the green door, back where I started. I crossed my arms and glared at the floor.

I imagined a gust of pretty, light blue wind gently flowing in my left ear, scooping up all of the thoughts in my head in a soft baby blue blanket and then taking them all out through my right ear. I watched in my mind as the useless blanket ripped in two and all of the thoughts fought their way back into my brain.

"Stupid blanket. Stupid, stupid baby, blue blanket. Stupid idiotic Honey who almost kissed some random. Stupid!" I mumbled angrily.

I put the inside of my lip between my teeth and bit down angrily, letting my face contort in pain as the pressure on the soft skin grew and grew. I stopped just before I tasted blood. Because Katie's door opened.

My parents didn't even glance at me as they walked out angrily. A doctor stood behind them, ushering them out quietly. "I'm sorry, but your daughter needs to rest. She's going to need as much of her strength she can give in order to get through the operation."

I watched as my Mum's hand tightened on her brown, leather handbag hanging from her shoulder. My Dad placed his hand on Mum's shoulder and squeezed re-assuringly.

I licked my lips nervously.

Katie was having an operation? When? What did they think was wrong with her?

I watched worriedly as my parents walked slowly toward the elevator and then I turned back to the doctor, who was gesturing for me to come in quickly. I stood up and looked him.

He was an older man, with greying hair and nice brown eyes that sparkled with life. I frowned in confusion and pointed to myself. He nodded and stepped back, clearing the way into my sister's room.

I looked at him for a moment longer and then blinked, and walked quickly through the door.

And then really wished I hadn't.

Katie…

Katie looked….horrible. Terrifying. Dying.

Her skin looked pale, but sort of grey. Her baby blue eyes were closed, the white cotton hospital blanket was pulled up to her chin, and there were machines all around her, beeping steadily, keeping her alive. For now.

I walked around to the other side of the bed, further away from the door.

I took in Katie's closed eyes, her grey skin, her lank, greasy hair, the way she seemed to have shrunken --everything was massive compared to her small, fragile looking body--…and the tears came.

I hesitantly reached out to stroke her forehead, terrified that she might crumble to dust under my fingers.

"I'll leave you alone. But your parents will be back soon." I barely heard the nice doctor leave the room. My streaming eyes stayed glued to Katie.

My baby sister.

She looked so weak, so helpless, so…dying.

I had to save her. But I already knew that.

I heard a commotion outside, people yelling, someone trying to calm them, to quiet them. My hand shot away from Katie's forehead just as the green door slammed open. And there, standing in the doorway, with his trademark red and brown board-shorts, sneakers and shirt, curly blondey-brown hair reaching to his tanned ears, in all his glory; Kevin.

And behind him, looking absolutely like they were about to throw a fit and blow up their heads at the same time; my not-so-loving parents.

But that was how they always looked when Kevin was around.

I wanted to run to him and throw my arms around his neck and laugh and squeal and ask what he's been up to since we last talked and all of that stuff that me and my brother do when he comes back from a over-long trip.

But I couldn't even manage a smile.

My Dad put one hand on Kevin's arm and demanded that he left immediately, but Kevin just shook him off. Dad started to protest, but then he saw me standing there beside Katie and his face changed to purple, he started yelling incoherent things at everything until security came and dragged him away until he calmed down.

My Mum just stood there looking furious as Kevin walked slowly over to Katie, a pained, confused, small boy look on his face.

Not even easy-going Kevin could make light of this situation.

He made it over to Katie's side before silent tears started falling down his cheeks. And seeing my big brother cry just made me cry even harder. We stood on opposite sides of the bed, staring down at our little sister who we've envied, hated and loved to death for 10 years and we didn't say a thing.

I didn't know about Kevin, but I just…couldn't. I couldn't speak. I didn't want to. Because if I spoke that would mean that this all really _did_ happen.

That nice-man-turned-bastard _did _show up and order me to marry his son.

Katie _is _in hospital.

I _did_ almost kiss that Caleb dude.

Kevin _is_ here. And not in Portugal with his mates.

Katie _is_ dying.

And I'm the only one who can save her.

But I already knew that.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna do the one thing I _could _do.

I'm gonna say Yes.

* * *

**Holy Crap buckets...**

**I got like, 6 REviews for Chapter 7!**

**AWWWW!! I love you guyss...**

**And I'm guessing your getting tired of hearing us authors gush about REviews and all that...I know I sorta am.**

**=D**

**I got this one out.**

**And just telling you...*SPOILER SORTA THINGYYY* Caleb is NOT the guy Honey's supposed to marry...*GASP***

**Nah, anyway...hehe**

**Hope you liked it.**

**Lyss.**


	9. YES,I AMTHE INSANE ONE TALKINGTO SHADOWS

Chapter 9

We all sat in that room. Kevin, my parents and I.

No one spoke. We all just watched Katie.

Potato and Corey had gone home, promising to come back as soon as they could.

I sat curled up in the chair near the wall, leafing through an old, tattered magazine, but not really seeing it.

My parents had pulled up chairs right next to Katie's bed, and Kevin just leant against the wall, one leg crossed over the other and his arms crossed over his chest. Every now and again I'd see his eyes flutter close and then shoot back open. He must've been exhausted.

I was too.

All I remember was that I blinked, and then I was surprised because my eyes didn't open back up. I felt my head tilt to the side and then I fell asleep, I guess.

I woke up the way too early the next morning with a blinding white cotton hospital blanket over me.

I looked to my right to see Kevin passed out in the chair next to me. His head had lolled back and his mouth was open.

I would've laughed at him any other time. But not now.

I yawned hugely and pulled the slightly itchy blanket tightly around me, and then I forced myself to look at my parents…and at Katie.

She didn't look any better, but she didn't look worse either.

I swallowed the tears that were threatening and then looked at my parents. They had fallen asleep as well, their heads rested on the edge of Katie's bed.

I could just imagine the complaining we're gonna have to listen to when they wake up and find their necks cramped horribly.

I looked around at my family, and I remembered that today was the day.

Aw, Crap.

I wondered faintly when the man was going to come and get my answer, hopefully I'll get a while longer.

Wait, is he gonna take me with him or something? Or can I stay in my house until I'm 18?

I had so many questions, so many fears. I didn't want to do this. I could hardly believe that I _was_ doing this.

I just wanted to pull this itchy white blanket over my head and forget everything.

"_Honey…" _

My unfocused eyes snapped to attention and I sat up straighter.

What the heck?

"Honey…."

The voice was louder this time. I uncurled myself, sitting up properly on the chair. My hands clutched at the arm rests and my breath came quick.

A ghost. Was my immediate assumption.

Thin rays of weak light were streaming through the blinds eliminating all of the rooms shadows, all but one.

I watched in terror as it started to move.

The shadow from the underside of Katie's bed streamed out as one big black 2d blob.

I was frozen.

It's a dream, this is a _dream. _This can't be real. Shadows don't _do_ that!

I couldn't hear anything over the erratic pounding in my ears. Small white expanding stars appeared before my eyes, and my head spun.

I felt sick. I felt so, so sick.

I watched the shadow as it stretched and changed, and took the shape of…a man?

I _felt_ the shadow's invisible eyes on me for a moment.

"Follow me Honey."

_Holy (Insert swear word of your choice here)._

All my mind could do was flash through all of the profanities of the rainbow.

I watched silently, struggling slightly to breathe, as the shadow of the man turned back into a non-man-supernatural-freaky-shadow-thing, and slowly seeped toward the door.

I didn't move a muscle as it disappeared beneath it.

"Honey."

The voice was commanding, and now, I realised, vaguely familiar.

I was just gonna sit here, and hide under the blanket, I'll be safe here with Kevin and my parents, safe from the freaky moving and talking shadow.

Well, that's what I was telling myself as I stood up, letting the itchy white blanket drop to the floor, and walked to the door.

I turned the handle with a sweaty, shaking hand.

My mind was screaming at me not to open the door, to just go back to the blanket and curl up and go back to sleep. That's what I always did when I was younger, when I was alone in my bedroom at night, and the shadow under _my_ bed started moving.

I stopped just before I pulled the door open.

The shadow under the bed. Under _my_ bed. Under _this _bed.

Holy mother of god.

What is it? Like a demon or something? It's like _following_ me? I got my own stalker demon?

Shut up brain.

Don't you love it when your going through possibly the most terrifying experience of your life and your brain starts going on about all this non-related, irrelevant crap that you don't really need to be thinking about at that moment in time?

I know I do.

I took a deep breath in my nose and held it, and then I slowly creaked the door open.

I stuck my head out slowly and looked around.

There.

The shadow of the man stood at the end of the corridor, stuck on the wall.

I stepped outside the room, closing the green door behind me.

The place was empty, silent.

Yeah, maybe because everyone _sane_ is asleep. Not following creepy shadows.

Streams of light broke through the blinds and curtains, illuminating millions of tiny dust particles floating around peacefully in the air.

I started to slowly walk toward the shadow man. Mentally calling myself a stupid idiot over and over again.

When I got to the end of the corridor, I stood a good 3 metres back from the shadow and then I stood there and watched it.

I _felt_ it smile. And a shiver ran down my spine, making me shudder.

The shadow moved on. And I followed close behind.

I momentarily wondered about security cameras, and I looked around. My eyes set on one and I was surprised to see that the little red light was blank.

Why was it off?

The shadow seemed to be taking random turns, but it would always slow down for me, or come back to get me if I lost sight of it and started walking the complete wrong way.

Outside the sun was slowly rising and as it rose, the shadow grew lighter and lighter.

It seemed to notice this and pushed on, faster.

Eventually we came to a single door at the end of a short, empty corridor. The shadow wasted no time slipping underneath it. But I was hesitant.

What was behind it? _Who_?

Well, I'll never know until I try. And with one more '_You're an stupid idiot Honey!_' from my oh-so-supportive brain, I turned the door handle and went through.

And blinked in surprise.

The garden. The one where that Caleb guy almost kissed me. Why would the shadow take me here?

The hospital itself guarded the garden from any light, so it was more or less, black. But I could still see a pretty clear dark outline of everything…including the man.

He stood in front of the tree, facing me. I saw his white teeth as he smiled at me.

"Hello Honey. It's so good to see you again."

Oh. Great.

* * *

**You know how much I love vanilla yogurt? As much as I love you guy's reviews. =D**

**Oh, by the way, the idea for the Shadow comes from scottish shadow's review. See what ideas do?? They make storeez!**

**Annywayyy...I'm probably gonna put chapter 10 up this weekend as well. **

**Read on.**

**Lyss.  
**


	10. JUST FOR YOU

And then, the man ate me and I died and now I'm dead.

OOOOHOOOOOOHOHOOOOOHH!!! I'm A GHOOOOSSSTTT!!!!

THE END.

* * *

**How many people freaked out?**

**How many people think I'm a loser and will no longer read any of my stories?**

**How many people cared?**

**XD BAHAHAHAAA!!! MUAHHAHAA!!!**

***Wipes away tear and clears throat***

**Nah seriously, I'm trying to write Chapter 10 and this is all I can come up with at the moment.**

**Don't cry or die on me, this stories not over just yet..I mean, you haven't even met whats-his-face!**

**_I_ haven't even met him....I think he's just a bit shy.****Or an asshole. Or...Or maybe...HE DOESN'T LIKE ME!! **

**Well, I think I've wasted enough of your time.**

**Lyss.**

***sniff***


	11. DYING, LONELY FLOWERS

Chapter 10

I stared at the man who stood there in the dark like he owned it.

And I grunted in response.

So I'm not good at pleasantries, so what?

"You've come to a decision?" He asked me. I stared at him for a moment longer, my arms crossed over my chest. I glared at him. But I nodded.

"Good." I heard him breath in deeply. "What have you decided Honey?"

For a moment I couldn't speak. My body refused to. My mind refused to.

I ended up having to nod.

"Yes?" He asked.

I nodded.

"You'll marry my son?" I stared at him hatefully, tears pricking at my eyes.

God, just rub it in.

I nodded.

"Do you swear?"

I rolled my eyes and snorted airily in anger.

I glared at a dying little flower amongst the bed of dying little flowers. I noticed how this one was growing away from the others. Alone.

Oh my god, I'm comparing myself to a flower. A dying, lonely flower. That's so sad.

I sighed and turned my gaze back to the man. "I swear."

He clapped his hands together happily. "Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! I'll have a car come to pick you up at noon."

I blinked. "What? Huh? No--! Why?" I protested immediately, suddenly terrified. What was he going to do? Lock me up in a tower until I turn 18?!

"Well of course Honey! We must get you prepared! Marrying Jedediah will be a great responsibility. I'm counting on you to tie him down."

I looked at him in shock. Jedediah? 'Great responsibility?' 'Tie him down?'

"Prepared for what?" I asked him, completely confused. What are we talking about?

The garden was lighter now, and I could see every little detail of the man. Not that I really wanted to. He sighed impatiently and his brow furrowed slightly.

"The wedding!"

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "But I've got like, 2 years until I can get married." I looked up again and stared at his face, which had changed to a look of amusement. "No, no Honey. Your getting married this year. 2 months from today to be exact."

My face went blank and my mouth dropped open slightly. Oh my god. "But…I'm 16." I said almost to myself. The man nodded, "Yes. You are of age Honey."

No. No. No freaking way!

"But I-""I have to go Honey," He smiled knowingly inclining his head slightly toward the direction of the rising sun. "Sensitive skin you know."

No, I don't frickin' know! And in what world is a 16 year old girl allowed to get married?!

I didn't say any of this, the words couldn't get past the lump in my throat.

I watched as he walked swiftly past me, completely ignoring the inhuman noises of protest coming from my mouth.

The man opened the door and then stopped and turned to look at me.

"By the way. Happy Birthday."

And then he was gone.

I managed to stumble over to the bench underneath the tree before my legs collapsed out from underneath me. I pulled my legs up to my chin and breathed in deeply, staring at a patch of wilting flowers, a moment later my eyes misted over and then the wall broke.

I cried for a solid hour.

I let out all of my anger and sadness, and all of my fear and despair. I barely even noticed when someone with strong hairy arms and red and brown shorts gathered me into his arms and held me tightly to him, murmuring meaningless crap in my ears. I stayed curled up in my little ball of self-pitying and sobbed and cried out and let the tears come.

My parents hate me, but it's okay, because I'm getting married to some freak I've never met before in my life who could possibly be a 60 year old child molester who has 5 other wives and hits me and makes me trim his thick yellow toenails and, and…oh god, I think I'll stick with my hating parents if you don't mind.

* * *

**Yo, I just came back from camp. Which was alright, except for the wind and the rain and the way all of our stuff got SOAKED and the tent almost blew away and it was 3 in the friggin MORNING....but, other than that I loved it.**

**So, tell me what you think. **

**Oh, And I know you guys LOVED the fake Chapter 10. My friend had a little spaz at me over MSN for it. Kinda...Scary..**

**But here's the real one and I'm writing Chapter 11 now and I love reviews and salt and vinegar chips and marshmellows and 2 bucks worth of double choc chip cookies and...**

**Lyss.**


	12. BLUSHING NURSES IN BLUE, WITH HANDY KEYS

Chapter 11

When I had done with the crying, my throat felt like someone had shoved a cork down it.

I wiped my nose on my sleeve and tried to fight against the irregular gasping sobs that vibrated through my chest, threatening to start the tears all over again.

"It's alright. Everything's fine. Just quit your crying Honey. C'mon, it's fine. Katie's fine. Your fine. I'm fine. We're all fine." Kevin murmured soothingly.

God, that was a massive lie. I was _not _fine. I would _never_ be _fine_ ever a frickin' 'gain!

"I'm getting married you stupid moron!" I wanted to shriek at him. "And I know Katie's fine because I friggin' said _yes_! I said _yes_ and now I'm getting _married_ to some guy called _Jedediah_ and this random ass man who was the one who saved Katie in the first place is sending a car to _come and pick me up _at 12 which is in like, what? 6 hours! I have _6 hours _until _the end of my life_!!"

But I didn't yell that at him, because I love Kevin.

Kevin is my brother and he loves me and I love him and we take care of each other and Katie's not going to die and I'm getting married…

Ugh, crap…How am I supposed to tell Mum and Dad? And Potato and Corey and Kevin and Katie and Caleb--

Caleb? C'mon brain, what the heck does _Caleb_ got to do with anything?

Well, remember his eyes? How he's got that silvery thing going on with 'em? Well, so does the man. And they got pale skin, and cold hands and--Oh _shut up_!

I am _way _to obsessed with vampires.

Plus I can't remember any vampires having _silver_ in their eyes. Isn't that like, werewolves or something?

Oh my god, I'm having a full-blown conversation with myself. This just gets worse and worse, doesn't it?

Eventually my gaspy sobs turned to sniffles, which I guessed was as good as it was gonna get. I wiggled myself out of Kevin's arms, but kept close to him. "All better?" He asked me, winding one arm around my shoulder and wiping my tears off of my cheeks with his other hand.

It would feel all wrong to smile in this situation, so I just nodded, feeling tears still continuing to stream down my face.

"Katie's fine Honey, seriously! She woke up a couple of minutes ago and was like; "Who died?" and then Mum jumped up and started screaming on the top of her lungs and then Dad was crying and it was all really weird, then they kicked me outta the room so I came and found you here crying, and now I'm wondering if you guys all caught the crying bug or something while I was in Portugal coz Ryan said that his sister got that and--" I stopped Kevin with a small, tiny, baby laugh.

"Katie's awake?" I asked him hoarsely.

He smiled hugely and gave me a noogie. I pushed him away playfully. "Sure is! I dunno what happened, neither do the oh-so-smart doctors, but she's as healthy as a baby lion." I sighed softly and twisted my mouth into a small smile. "Well, what are we still doing here?"

Kevin blinked.

"I dunno." He said thoughtfully, "I was coming to find you and then you were crying so I hugged you and then you asked me that and now…I dunno."

I stared at him for a moment as he struggled to figure something out. And then I laughed shortly and stood up.

"Well, let's go."

He nodded and smacked his hands down onto his knees. "Yeah! Let's go to the lion's den!"

Huh?

Oh! Coz Katie's the baby lion, so our parents are the big one's and…yeah…

God, everything's so confusing with Kevin around. Everything's better.

He stood up and together we walked to the door.

We got to the green door a couple of minutes later. And surprise, surprise!

The door was locked.

Kevin stood there and tried to turn it for ages before sighing angrily.

In the same moment he turned toward me and wiggled his eyebrows happily. "Wait here a sec, Hon." He walked past me winking at my confused face.

I watched as he stood in the corridor, doctors and patients walked around him. I saw him concentrating on something, like a hawk on his prey.

I leaned slightly to the side as he started walking purposefully toward a blue smocked…nurse?

What the heck is he doing?

I saw the nurse look Kevin up and down once before a huge smile popped up onto her face. I could only see the back of Kevin's head but what he was saying made the nurse blush like a little girl.

Oh. My. God! What the _heck_ is he _doing_?!

Kevin backed the nurse up against the wall, and then one arm came up, trapping her there…Not that she really looked like she'd want to be anywhere else.

I watched with my mouth open as Kevin slipped her a piece of paper and then turned and walked back toward me, twirling something in his fingers, whistling.

Behind him, the nurse looked like she was hyperventilating.

Kevin reached me and slid the nurse's keys into the lock. He smirked triumphantly at me and turned the key, at the same time pushing the door open.

Our parents looked up from their chairs next to Katie's bed in shock. Which quickly turned to the 'about throw a fit and blow up their heads at the same time' look they always got when Kevin was near.

Kevin strolled in the room, not even glancing in their direction. "Hey little sis'! I hunted down Honey for ya!"

I walked in behind Kevin, feeling stronger with him near, and tore my eyes from our parents.

_Wow._

Katie looked…perfect. Like Katie. Her skin had regained it's rosy colour, her blue eyes were wide and bright and her hair was blonde and shiny. There was nothing but a drip in her left hand. No tubes, no wires, nothing keeping her alive but her own heart.

"Honey!" She cried happily. And then we were hugging and laughing. And Kevin scooped us carefully up into his lap, staying clear of the drip's tube.

Our parents just sat there, glaring angrily at us.

But it didn't matter.

It that moment, it really didn't matter that I was getting married in 2 months time, or that some random ass guy was picking me up at 12 o'clock, which was now, in just over 5 hours.

Katie was alive, Kevin was here, we were all together.

It was all fine.

For now.

* * *

**My mum rocks. You know why? Coz she got me the Mountain Dew I've been looking for since like, the end of last year.**

**We've searched through all of the shops we go to, and NONE OF THEM HAVE IT! !!!???!**

**But she went to KFC and they got it and I love it and now it's all gonee....**

**Very sad...**

**47 REVIEWS!!!!!**

**I love you's... *sigh***

**I likes dots...Dots are my favourite colour...**

**Lyss.**


	13. READYORNOT! HERECOMES THEEND OF MY LIFE!

Chapter 11

3 hours later…

"What am I doing? I dunno. I didn't ask you. Well then who did you ask? There's no one else here. Oh My G--Who the _fudge_ are you anyway? You know what? Never mind, I'm sick of having conversations with myself, I feel like a freak…" I muttered.

I stood in the middle of my bedroom wondering what the heck I was supposed to do.

The man's car was picking me up in what? 2 hours and 15 minutes. But did he ever say that I was supposed to bring anything?

No.

You know what? I don't care. I'm bringing my stuff anyway.

The house was quiet other than my stomping around as I scooped my favourite clothes and other belongings out of their rightful place and into my giant grey suitcase.

Katie had been told that she had to stay for observation for at least 2 more days, and our parents refused to leave her side.

Kevin, on the other hand had obviously grown tired of the uncomfortable chairs and angles that he was sleeping in and knowing now that Katie was improving dramatically, he announced that he was going home to sleep and would be back at the more holy hours of the day to visit Katie.

I knew that Katie would be perfectly fine now that I had said yes. I was so glad that I didn't have to worry about her anymore.

But now I had to worry about me, which is usually a full-time job. The suitcase was overflowing when I was done with it, but after a lot of sitting on it, kneeing it, tugging at it and loudly swearing at it, I managed to get it closed.

I looked down at it victoriously and then looked around my room again.

And there goes that happy feeling.

There was so much stuff that made up _my room _and I knew that I couldn't take all of it.

So, making sure that my door was closed, even though I knew very well that Kevin was passed out in front of the TV --I could hear him snoring--, I pulled out a pink and black backpack and began shoving my favourite things in it. My CD's, my writing stuff, the letters from Kevin from when he was on vacation and also while he was at that college for 3 months, before he dropped out.

I almost started crying all over again when I gazed at the keyboard, computer and mini-library of books that I couldn't stuff into my bag.

I hunted down my mobile phone that I hadn't seen in about a week, it's charger and all that stuff and shoved it into the backpack, which had grown several times larger than how it started.

And then I went onto the computer, scooped out the 10 never-before used USB's from my desk drawer and downloaded all of my music and documents onto them.

By the time I was finished, it was 11:39.

I stared at the little white numbers in the corner of my computer screen, willing them to turn backwards a few hours.

The stupid numbers didn't move.

I sighed numbly, and slowly switched the computer off, listening to the quiet hum of the engine. Praying that it wouldn't be the last I hear of it. My baby.

I pulled on some jeans and a hoodie, and shoved my mp3 player into it's pocket.

I stood in the middle of my very empty room, and let a few tears fall.

I've been in this room my while life.

I just…don't know how to not be in it. To not live in it.

I don't want to let it go.

I decided to actually make my bed --something I haven't done in about 6 years-- and then I took my pillow from it's place near the head of my bed.

I carefully placed it on top of the suitcase, which was sitting nicely next to my black and pink fatter-than-ever backpack, right next to the door of my room.

I double checked to make sure that I've got my toothbrush and all that sorta stuff and then sat on my made bed for the next 15 minutes.

I stared at the watch on my left wrist as it quietly informed me that I have officially 5 more minutes until the end of my life.

And Kevin is still snoring on the couch downstairs.

* * *

**You know what? I'm not gonna apologize for this one being so boring and non-exciting or anything like that...**

**You know why? Coz its 2 o'clock in the morning. THATS WHY.**

**I was gonna wait until I got 50 reviews coz at the moment we're on 49 and it killed me so I wrote this and now it's up and yeah**

**This is just about Honey getting ready for her new life and trying to leave her old one behind. It's also what I'd be doing. **

**I mean, how would you know if you were supposed to bring stuff? It's not like the guy gave her a flyer or an invitation telling her all the details about what and what not to bring.**

**ANyway, i'm writing the next one now. **

**I want at least 1 review for THIS!**

**~~!HHH!!!!!**

**Lyss.**


	14. LOGIC IS WASTED ON THOSE WITH FEELINGS

Chapter 13

2 minutes later…

Yeah, you know how 2 minutes ago I was sitting quite nicely on my bed?

Well since then Kevin's woken up, walked up the stairs, stuck one messy-haired head into my room, questioningly uttered a very, _very _bad word, thrown open the door…and that's about when I burst into tears…again.

Kevin stood in my doorway, looking around my almost empty room in confusion, leaving sobbing, hysterical me for last.

"Are you-- going somewhere?" He managed to choke.

I couldn't get anything out. The cork was back.

I brought my legs up, wrapping my arms around them and sobbed into my knees.

A few long seconds later I felt the mattress give under Kevin's weight beside me. He wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me close, but I could feel that he was tense.

"Honey, what's goin' on? Why is all your stuff packed up?" He asked me, his voice uneven.

He sounded…scared?

I suddenly felt the urge to comfort him.

I had to tell him.

But how could I?

Would he hate me? Would he refuse to let me go?

Either way, this scene would end in tears, not that we haven't had enough of those already.

"I'm-getting-married." I whispered quickly. Man, if I thought Kevin was tense before, he was a stone now. Suddenly his arms felt like a vice, a wall around me, restraining me, suffocating me.

"What?" His voice was as cold and as hard as his body had become.

His reaction just made me cry more. "I'm getting married." I sobbed out.

"To who? When? Why?" He demanded, his voice shaking.

I shook my head, flinging wet strands of hair everywhere. "Honey answer me!" Kevin demanded, grabbing my shoulders roughly and turning me toward him.

I cried out in shock as he shook me once. "To _who_?"

I looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "I don't know!" I cried before slumping down in his arms.

_Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep...Beep…Beep!_

I froze.

My 2 minutes were up. My life was over…

And yet…I was still here. Strange.

"You don't--?" Kevin asked in disbelief. Then his hands tightened on my shoulders. "You are not getting married Honey! Do you hear me?! I don't care what that bastard threatened you with, you are _not_ getting married!"

I decided in that moment that I didn't quite like the angry, protective brother side of Kevin.

It kinda scared me..

"I have to." I told him. He shook his head determinedly.

"Kev, If I don't Katie will _die_."

I think Kevin stopped breathing. "He threatened you with Katie?"

I shook my head. "He's the one who saved Katie, Kev."

Kevin obviously had no idea what to say to this.

I figured since I had already started it, I might as well finish the story.

"Remember when Katie was a baby and I--" I gulped, unable to finish, "Well, yeah, remember? And how she was in the hospital and Mum and Dad kicked me out?"

Kevin made no movement to indicate that he followed, but I could tell by the look in his eyes that he remembered every second of that day.

"I was sitting outside, in the corridor…and the man came up to me. He promised me that if I agreed to marry his son when I turned 16, that he would make Katie better. And of course, I agreed."

Kevin stared down at me with a look of disbelief, concern and horror on his face. "No." He said.

"Katie got better Kevin."

"No."

"He was telling the truth."

"No."

"If I don't marry his son, Katie will _die_. And she won't come back this time."

I was surprised at the numb sound in my voice. The seriousness.

"No. You can't."

I stared long and hard into Kevin's brown-speckled eyes.

"I have to."

We stared at each other, me, trying to will all of the logic into Kevin's mind via his eyes, and Kevin, trying to ignore it.

Kevin was losing.

The door-bell rang. And I tried not to scream.

Instead, I threw myself into Kevin's arms, digging my fingers into his back.

"Is that him?" I heard Kevin choke weirdly. I breathed out as I felt something dripping onto my back.

I nodded into his shoulder.

"This isn't happening Honey." He whispered.

"Yeah, it is."

"I can't--I shouldn't…" Kevin breathed in raggedly. "Are you sure?"

I went to pull back from him, but found it impossible. Kevin wasn't going to let go.

"I have to."

The doorbell rang again.

Slowly we let go of each other and looked into each other's wet eyes.

Kevin reached up and ruffled my hair half-heartedly.

He tried a smile, and failed miserably. I'd never seen Kevin like this.

It was all my fault.

Finally after the 3rd ring of the doorbell I got up off of the bed and tore my gaze from Kevin's.

I looked around my room as Kevin stood up and took my hand. I looked back into his eyes.

He understood.

I have to do this.

Time seemed to have slowed down, I felt as if I were walking through slush as I picked up my things and walked out of my bedroom door.

Kevin took my suitcase for me. God, I love him.

We walked down the stairs, trying not to trip and then paused at the bottom.

We both stared at the front door, where a silhouette of a man could be seen through the door.

My heart pounded as I saw it.

The next thing I did surprised the hell outta me. I dropped all of my things and sprinted back up the stairs.

"Honey!" I heard Kevin call worriedly as I burst through my open bedroom door. I looked around with wide eyes and then set them on the wardrobe.

In 4 long strides I stood in front of it and then flung the door open.

I stepped inside and looked up toward the single shelf up the top of the wardrobe.

I stretched up on my tip toes and pushed a few things out of the way…

There.

At the very back of the shelf, right in the corner, was Little Ted.

He looked just like I remembered him to be, albeit a bit dustier. I stepped away from the wardrobe and stared down at my favourite teddy bear.

I hit his stomach a few times, letting the dust puff out of his brown fur.

He was only about the length of my forearm, with brown eyes and a red, velvet bowtie.

I brushed more dust out of his head and back and then held him to me.

Kevin stared at me as I walked back down the stairs, holding Little Ted tightly to my chest.

His eyes were slightly red, but he managed a small smile as I stood in front of him.

"Little Ted." He patted the bear's head.

I nodded. And he sighed, giving a glance toward the door.

"Are you ready?"

I nodded slightly.

He let out a long breath, stepped forward, and opened the door.

"Miss Addams…The car is waiting for you."

Yeah, I wanna go back inside.

* * *

**There. She told him. Ain't he a great brother?**

**Thanks for all the reviews =D and to think that I asked for just 1. Ha!**

**Thankyou.**

**Now, I'm to be dragged off to dinner..frickin' yay...**

**Lyss.**


	15. PANIC? YEAH, PANIC!

Chapter 14

I sat on the _limo's _smooth black leather seats with my chin on my knees. I couldn't cry anymore. Little Ted sat next to me and for a moment it seemed as if he were crying for me.

Walking away from Kevin was the hardest thing I had done in my life.

"This is _not_ goodbye Honey." He had told me seriously, gripping my upper arms tightly. I just nodded as he pulled me into a huge hug.

I forced the memory away. It hurt too much.

The blonde man in the suit sat in the driver seat, he was…driving.

He had told me that his name was Gregory. I didn't talk to him though, I was never good at interacting with new people.

The hour's drive was long and uneventful. I watched glumly as everything I knew came and went through the window.

Soon enough we were out of town and driving on some road surrounded by an old wood forest. I strained my neck in a sort of curious wonder, trying to see the top of the trees as we passed through, even in my melancholy mood.

5 minutes later Greg turned off onto an…avenue? I think that's what it was called. Large green Leyland cypress' lined both sides of the tame dirt road and I watched with a raised eyebrow as they passed, each one greener than the last. It was like we were getting closer and closer to fairyland or something.

Man, my brain must be really messed up today.

The avenue was long, and I got bored of watching the green trees. I turned back from the window and studied the floor for a while. I reached to my left without thinking and hugged Little Ted to me.

I was so scared.

I didn't know who these people were, or what they were like or what I was supposed to do or if I really was supposed to bring my clothes and stuff.

Fear and butterflies fluttered around in my stomach.

I buried my face in Little Ted's fur.

I don't know how much longer it was, but eventually the limo stopped and I heard Greg open his door quietly, but I didn't hear him walk around to open my door.

I stared out at the plush green grass that I could see out of the door from where I sat.

"Miss Addams?" I heard Greg call. All of my muscles tensed up, and my breathing quickened. I didn't wanna get out. My heart beat faster and I felt light-headed.

I really, _really_ didn't wanna get out.

"Miss Addams?" I heard him call again.

I'm so scared.

"Are you alright?"

I don't wanna go.

Greg bent down with a concerned look in his brown eyes.

I want Kevin.

"Honey? Are you all right?"

I want Potato and Corey.

"What's the hold up Gregory?" I heard another voice ask. The man.

I want to go home.

"It's Miss Addams, sir. She seems to be having a panic attack."

I want…I want my mum.

And then the world spun.

But I didn't faint…coz, I just _don't_ faint, even when I want to.

* * *

**Yo, this was a horrible chapter to write, but I sorta like it. **

**I had to put it up because my bestie Sly (xSlyLeafx) was yelling at me over MSN to hurry the heck up and write another one already.**

**Oh! And you guys should read her story 'An Old Future and a New Past' it's kinda short, but it's fine coz it's just the prologue. It's AWESOME. Now it's my turn to nag her. MUHAHAHA.**

**So yeah, short, sweet, panicky. **

**Lyss.**


	16. I DON'T FEEL LIKE BREATHING RIGHT NOW

Chapter 15

I crawled as far away from the door as I could. All the way to the back of the limo. There, I curled up into a ball, shoved my face into Little Ted's fur and started crying again. Loud, hysterical sobs, which quickly turned into hyperventilating gasps.

Now I've never hyperventilated before, so this new experience only caused me to panic even more than I already was.

I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't speak.

I couldn't move.

I wouldn't get out of this car. Ever.

Never, ever, never, ever, ever, never, _ever_.

"It's alright Miss Addams." I heard Gregory say from the limo's door a good metre away from me. His head was poking through the door with concerned eyes.

Yeah…no, Greg. It's not.

I kept my mouth shoved in Little Ted's fur as I stared at him with wide, panicky eyes. My breaths were coming too fast, too small.

"NO!" I managed to shout gustily, "It's not alright!"

"You must calm down Miss Addams. You must breathe before you harm yourself." His voice was soft, but commanding, and very concerned.

"I don't wanna breathe!" I yelled at him, digging my fingers into Little Ted's fur so hard that it hurt. "I wanna go home!"

Gregory was silent.

I watched with my panicked eyes and gasping breaths as his blonde hair disappeared out the door.

I faintly heard some murmuring, before his head returned.

Well, I thought it was his head until I saw that his blonde hair had turned a blackish brown and his soft brown eyes had turned silvery-blue.

I gasped in a long terrified breath and then returned my mouth to Little Ted's fur.

The man, hitched himself halfway through the limo's door and then stopped.

He seemed to understand that if he even attempted to close any more distance between us, I'd start screaming.

Coz I would.

Instead the man fixed me with his eyes and spoke to me calmly and softly, as if he were speaking to a startled horse or a terrified child, which at that moment in time, I guess I was.

"Honey, it's alright. You're safe here."

I was breathing, well, gasping through my mouth, my nostrils not big enough to suck in the air that I was trying to suck in, and this made talking very difficult.

"Y-You're ly-lying!" I got out.

The man shook his head slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. "No, I'm not. I swear it. Neither me nor any of my people shall ever harm you Honey."

I stared at him wobbly for a few moments. I noticed that my eyesight was slowly changing back from the misty haze my panic attack had brought, and my head was pounding slightly less.

Through my panic now, I could understand what the man was saying, and read how sincere he was as he swore it.

"You…you swear?" I asked him, slightly calmer. Slightly.

He nodded his pale head, his perfect comb over never leaving it's place.

"I swear."

Well then…

I stared at the man for a long time after that, and he stared back.

I watched as his face lost more and more tension as my heart slowed, it was almost as if he could hear me calming down.

Finally, exactly 6 minutes and 48 seconds later --yes, I counted-- I slowly extended my legs out in front of me.

The man watched as I bent into a crouch and slowly started to inch toward him. Very, very slowly.

The man disappeared out of the limo door.

I took a deep gulp of air, and clutched Little Ted tightly under one arm.

Then I fell out of the limo.

Just to make my day so much better.

* * *

**Yo. **

**If you haven't noticed, there is a poll on my profile. **

**The entire story rests on who you guys would prefer Honey to end up with.**

**So, vote please. OH! And review! **

**Thanks to all who have. **

**Lyss.**


	17. SCABS ARE EWW

Chapter 16

"Um… Hello, Honey."

I looked up from where I lay awkwardly on the ground just outside the limo's doors. The man, Greg, and some beautiful auburn haired chick stared down at me worriedly. I flinched away as the man went to help me to my feet. Seeing my distress he quickly retracted his hand, merely watching me with concerned silvery-blue eyes as I scrambled to my feet.

"Gregory, please take Miss Addam's things up to her room." The man waved his hand dismissively. Greg bowed and then walked toward the back of the limo.

Oh, great. The man is some kinda rich, important, blackmailing kidnapper.

I watched Greg go, and then turned my attention back to the two --beautiful-- people in front of me.

My heart was still beating too fast, my breaths were still panicked, but I was willing to at least try and look like the mature 16 year old girl I was supposed to be.

"This is crap." I muttered to myself. This understatement forced me to laugh slightly hysterically.

Yeah, real mature.

"Hello Honey," I looked to the light auburn haired woman who was now smiling at me gently, a nervous tinge in her eyes.

"My name is Marissa, I am Jedediah's mother. And this is my husband Johnathan, who I'm sure you're already acquainted with."

_Acquainted_? Who uses the word _acquainted_?

I grunted in response.

How lady-like.

"I hope we can be very good friends."

Yeah, I didn't even grace that with my ape-like grunt.

An awkward silence appeared like a blanket over us. I noticed how Marissa nervously fiddled with her fingers, very pale in front of her --I guess-- casual dark grey low cut dress that ended around her knees, and glanced over at the man--_Johnathan _with a_ 'Well? Now what?' _expression on her face.

Finally _Johnathan_--it's gonna be hard remembering to call him anything other than _the man_-- stepped closer to the Marissa lady and laid one hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Well, lets show Honey around them shall we?" He said with a smile, not taking his eyes off of me.

Marissa smiled and nodded. She stepped forward and went to grab my hand friendlily.

Basically, I saw her coming toward me and I freaked.

The breath caught in my throat, my heart skipped a beat and I jumped backwards into the side of the limo all at once.

My elbow hit the window and I guess it wasn't hard enough to break the glass, but it was hard enough to open up a rather large scab on there that I had collected a couple of days ago when I was walking home from school the day that my dad had driven off with Honey, glaring at me icily as he went.

I had tripped over a tiny lump in the pavement, fallen, yelped in surprise, reached out to grab the mailbox beside me, missed it with my hand, and hit it with my elbow.

Ow! And eww, blood. Was my immediate response.

A slight choking sound was the response I found to be of my kidnappers.

I looked up and frowned.

Marissa had her hand over her mouth and nose, and was staring off with silvery-violet eyes into the thick growth of trees that surrounded the large green, plush, paddock looking clearing where their freaking giagnormous mansion was situated.

Oh, and her silvery-violet eyes were turning red.

Which for some reason --obvious sarcasm there-- I found slightly unnerving.

Johnathan was looking at her worriedly, his lips were moving but I heard no sound coming from them.

I watched uncomfortably as she took several deep breaths, and then lowered her hands. Smiling slightly at Johnathan, she reassured him that she was fine.

Well, at least her eyes had turned violet again.

I stood there with my little tiny amount of blood on my elbow thinking of how crazy and horrible and dream-like my life had become.

Seriously, with that reaction to my blood it was like she was a vampire or something.

Ugh…_Way_ too obsessed.

"I apologise Honey. My wife has a small issue with blood. It makes her nauseous."

The man-Johnathan-guy told me.

See brain? A logical answer.

My elbow was already clotting up, my body starting to make a new scab. It hurt a bit, but I could deal easily.

"Well, let's not stand outside forever," Marissa said with a forced smile. "We'll show you to your room." And then she turned gracefully and walked down the smooth white path connecting the driveway to the front door of their mansion-house-thing.

_Vampire…_

Shut up! I really need to get a new hobby…

* * *

**I've noticed how I love stretching this story as much as I can and I dunno if I should apologise or laugh.**

**Sorry about the wait, it woud've been up sooner but I was grounded for a week coz I woz BAAADD and it hadn't actaully been written until about 5 minutes ago. =D**

**Enjoy, thanks for the 78 -- WHOOOHHHAA-- reviews.**

**I love them. I love this story. I love Alice in Wonderland. I love Vampires. I love choc chip hot cross buns all microwaved up mmmmmmmmm...**

**Lyss.**


	18. MYROOMTHAT'SNOTMYROOMBUTSTILLISMINE

Chapter 17

How is it even possible that this place can be any bigger on the inside than it was on the outside?

I looked around what was apparently…my room.

It was easily three times bigger than my room back home. The walls were a lighter blue colour and the furniture was all white.

Yeah, _furniture _as in more than just a bed--which, may I tell you is a four poster _king_ sized bed. Oh my god right?--

There was a half-filled bookshelf up against the wall that was several inches taller than me and more than twice my width. A desk sat in the corner next to the door and get this; it had a computer on it.

Thank freaking god.

There was also a white cotton couch, a coffee table the height of my knees and to top it all off, the darker blue carpet had a round white rug situated smack in the middle of the room.

"Do you like it?" I heard Marissa ask behind me. I spun around from where I stood in the middle of the--my room. I stared at her in shock.

"This? I--I don't know what to say." I told her.

Marissa and Johnathan stood in the doorway of the room with smiles on their faces.

They reminded me of what real parents would look like if they were showing their daughter her new room in their new house.

Then I remembered who they were, and where I was and what they were making me do.

"Yeah. I like it. Thanks." I said sombrely. All the excitement had flown out of me.

They noticed this, and their smiles dropped slightly. "Well, we'll let you get settled." Johnathan said quietly.

Gee thanks so much, I thought, Not.

I just watched them heatedly, a sick feeling in my stomach as Johnathan pulled the door smoothly shut with a click.

When they were gone, I turned around and to my disappointment, the excitement came back.

I spent the next half-an-hour running around the room. _My _room.

I flung open one of the two white doors on the other side of the room to find a massive wardrobe that my clothes wouldn't even take up a quarter of.

I closed the wardrobe door with a disbelieving shake of my head and then turned to the other one.

Holy mother of god.

It was a bathroom fit for a queen. Or a king. Or both.

Like the bedroom, the bathroom's colour theme was white and blue. There was a white sink half the length of a bath. A double shower cubicle-thing that I could probably fit a dozen nakey people inside of--not that I'd ever want to. Eww.-- and a spa that was just…huge.

The roof and floor of the bathroom was white, and the walls were half tiled blue, half normal wall blue. Above the huge spa was an equally huge window that I hoped was blurred. A thin white curtain hung over it. The thing took up most of that wall.

I quickly got out of there before I started up a girly scream of excitement.

This place was almost worth giving up my non-marriedness.

Almost.

I walked over and sat down on my bed, pulling my MP3 player out of my hoodie pocket I dumped it beside me. The white sheets were brand-spanking-new and crinkled under my weight. The mattress was slightly harder than I was used to, but I could work with it.

I looked over to the thick white curtained window next to the bookcase.

I wondered if there was a view.

With a excited bite of my lip I clambered over the bed and pulled back the curtain. I let out a curse.

There was a _balcony_ out there. With a table and chairs and what the--?

I opened the very clear sliding glass door and stepped outside.

The cool wind blew my loose hair across my face and I reached up and tucked it behind my ears.

I slowly walked over to the white wooden railing and looked over the edge. It was a 3 story drop from there.

My fingers tightened on the wood. I don't do all that well with heights.

I looked up slightly. The thick growth of trees surrounding the house turned out to be an entire forest. And this mansion was right in the middle of it.

Way to make a kid feel isolated.

I made my way back inside the room, feeling more alone and _stolen_ than ever.

* * *

**=D **

**Lyss.**


	19. FAMILIAR FACES IN WEIRD PLACES

Chapter 18

After a few moments of feeling alone and depressed and trapped I decided that as long as I would be held here til death do I part, I might as well figure out where the kitchen is.

I walked over and opened the white door to my bedroom, noting that Greg had at some point brought my things up and placed them neatly next to the wall, and then I stepped outside, leaving the door open.

The outside of the door was for some reason painted brown to match the rest of the corridor I looked up and down it, and then started walking.

This place is fricking massively giagnormous.

I strolled down corridor after corridor, through doors and up and down staircases.

"This place is huge!" I said to myself.

I turned a corner and found myself in yet another corridor, but this one had a much higher roof than any of the others, and the walls were crammed with beautifully detailed paintings.

My eyebrows found themselves rising closer and closer to my hairline as my eyes took in each painting.

There was two however that really stood out; one of a man with blackish brown hair and blue eyes holding a rather large silver sword, and wearing a dark green vest and white puffy-armed shirt that was tightened at the wrists. He wore loose black pants and knee high tight black leather boots.

On top of his hair was a pirate's hat? Well, that's what I thought it looked like. Behind the man stood a great, dark castle with tall towers and a drawbridge.

The man looked very proud and fierce in the picture. He also looked weirdly familiar.

The other picture was completely different, but also strangely familiar.

There was a woman standing in front of a huge maple tree in a red and black also medieval-looking dress with sleeves that were tight at her upper arm and very long and flowing below her elbows. The neck and hems of the dress was decorated with embroidery and there was a tight looking lace up the side of the woman's torso, hugging the dress to her. The skirt of her dress however was full and flowed out from her hips and then straight down to the green grass at her feet.

The whole dress made her loose red hair stand out beautifully where it flowed out down her back and around her shoulders.

I frowned at the pictures, memorizing them, taking in every last inch.

I looked at a couple of other paintings of places and scenes I would never witness or see, and then I sighed and continued my walk.

Eventually I got bored of walking and decided to go back to my room and unpack and all that jazz. There was only one problem with that;

"Dude, I'm totally lost!" I told myself looking around, searching for something, _anything,_ vaguely familiar.

I walked back the way I thought I had came, searching for that hall of pictures with the pretty red-head and sword wielding guy.

I couldn't find it.

I looked around again and in despair I realised I didn't recognise anything around me.

Not that wall, not that door, not that lump in the long dark red floor rug.

I gulped and crossed my arms over my chest and kept walking.

I have to end up _somewhere_, I told myself, It makes sense.

I walked for about 10 minutes before I stopped, convinced that either I was going around in circles --I swear that's the same table I had walked into 5 corners ago-- or I was, in fact, horribly lost. As in 'Call the cops' or 'Go find a freaking road map' or 'Just pull over and ask someone for directions' lost.

Except I wasn't on a road. And there wasn't a single freaking living person around to tell me where to go.

I stopped walking and just stood there in the middle of the corridor.

_Maybe I should yell for help, _I thought. I was still looking around helplessly.

_Oh yeah, how dignified; 'Help! I got lost in my own house!' That's almost as bad as yelling 'Help! I'm locked inside my car!'._

Ugh, I love my brain.

I took several deep breaths. "It's okay…It's okay…" I tried to reassure myself but it wasn't really helping.

I squeezed the muscles in my arms tightly, pressing them into my chest and stomach and took in another deep breath. "Frick! It's not okay! I'm lost!" I cried angrily.

What if I never get out of here? What if I die in this corridor? That would be so sad. We'd have to have a funeral and go on TV. It'd be; 'The girl who died; lost in the corridor.' They could make a movie, and a documentary about how dangerous the corridors in giant mansions could be. I would cry.

I sighed.

"Where am I?"

And that's about when something, or _someone _grabbed my shoulder.

Let me tell you; I didn't yell, I screamed like a little girl.

How dignified is that?

* * *

**Keep reading.**

**Keep reviewing.**

**Give me ideas for 'Risen'.**

**Please? **

**Show me a garden that's bursting into life.**

**Lyss.**


	20. COUSINS TWICE REMOVED 4 TIMES REPLACED

Chapter 19

I spun around, cutting myself off mid-scream.

And I was met with laughter.

The girl stood there with her black velvet top hat covering her couple of inches shorter than my own, almost black but still brown hair, her skin was deathly pale and she was laughing like crazy at me. As in, bent over, hands-over-her-stomach-because-she-can't- breathe, laughing at me.

"Oh!" The girl got out, "You should've seen your face!"

I stood there with my hands up defensively, looking at her in bewilderment.

Did she just--? And now she's--?

"Where did you come from?" I asked her as my heart slowed down.

She just shook her head, unable to answer.

I stared at her laughing form, and frowned. Once the terror had past, it was replaced with annoyance.

"It's not funny." I told her, crossing my arms.

She nodded, still laughing.

"It's not. Now who the heck are you?" I glared at her.

"You almost--! Oh!" She laughed for a while longer before calming down enough to answer.

"I'm Brianna--" Laugh. "But you--" Laugh. "You can call me--" Laugh. "Bree."

I sighed. I didn't think it was funny at all.

"So what? You're Jedediah's sister?" I asked her.

She looked at me, standing up straight but still not completely over her laughing fit. "No, No! His cousin twice removed, four times replaced. Silly!" She told me as if she were reminding me of something I forgot often.

I narrowed my eyes sceptically at her. "Right."

She laughed a bit more and then returned to all seriousness. She tilted her head to the side and grinned at me knowingly.

"And of course I know who _you_ are _and _why you're here." She winked at me. Winked. What the heck?

"Yeah…Great…" I said not so enthusiastically. I looked Brianna up and down.

She was wearing some of the weirdest clothes I had ever seen anyone wear; the black velvet top hat had a bright purple ribbon around it, holding a large darker purple feather to it. Her green shirt covered most of her neck and disappeared underneath the open beige coloured trench coat that was obviously several sizes too large for her. Her bright blue skinny jeans clung to her legs and her feet were clad with green ballet flats. And just to top it all off, around her neck was a fat yellow tie with different coloured dots all over it.

And the weird thing was; she pulled it off; the entire odd ensemble looked good on her.

I cleared my throat. "Well…Bree. Where the heck are we?"

I watched as the girl's smile grew impossibly larger and she jumped up and down twice before simply grabbing my hand and dragging me off down the corridor.

"This way!" She cried happily, "To the place where we wanna go!" I was too much in shock to resist her strong --icy cold--grip on my hand.

"Honey!" Brianna sung, "I love Honey! For my tummy!"

Oh my god, this place is actually an asylum.

I lost count of the turns and doors Brianna dragged me through. Everything seemed to blur after a while.

Eventually I just zoned out, letting my body get dragged along automatically. I was so out of it that when Brianna stopped, I crashed right into her.

"Oh!" I cried in surprise, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Tah-dah!" She cried triumphantly, gesturing to a set of brown double-doors.

I looked at her sceptically yet again. "Okay?" I trailed the word off questioningly.

"This, Honey, is my brother's room!" She grinned happily.

Her brother? Jedediah? What are we doing here?

"I thought he was your cousin?" I questioned her as she stepped forward and took hold of the round handles of the doors. She shrugged and rolled her eyes dismissively.

"Meh, close enough." And then she threw open the doors.

The guy likes black.

The room was set out pretty much identical to my own, except everything was black. Not just night-time black but, crow-feathers black.

You wouldn't be able to see a thing when the sun went down.

I was hesitant to step over the threshold, Brianna on the other hand skipped right on in.

Yes. Skipped.

I warily stepped inside the creepy black room. Visions of a boy with long, greasy black hair and hundreds of piercings entered my mind, making me shudder involuntarily.

I was looking around like a scared kitten when I noticed what Brianna was doing. I turned my full attention to her and gaped.

"Come on Honey! It's fun!" She giggled from where she was jumping on Jedediah's perfectly made bed.

Seriously, how old is this chick? She looks at least 15 but she's acting like a 6 year old.

I walked halfway into the room and then stopped, refusing to go any further. This place was creeping me out.

"Yeah…I don't think we should be in here." I told Brianna uncertainly.

"Aww! C'mon!" She pouted still jumping up and down. As fast as she had got up there, Brianna stopped jumping and stepped off of the bed. I looked over my shoulder to the wide open double doors. And ground my teeth uncertainly. I was really worried about getting caught.

"So, where is…Jedediah?" I asked Brianna, who was now sitting at the desk next to the wall, scribbling happy on something that looked very much like a book. "Away." She answered nonchalantly.

I frowned slightly at her cryptic answer. "Where?"

"Away."

I rolled my eyes and mouthed 'fine'.

I was looking around curiously, the only sound in the room was Brianna's pencil scribbling in Jedediah's book, when all of the sudden the girl spun around and leapt up, the chair falling backwards to the ground. She grinned at me excitedly.

"Oh my gosh! We can totally play dress ups!" She squealed.

My eyes flew wide and I stepped back, raising my hands defensively. "No," I laughed nervously, "No, no, no. _No_!"

But the crazy girl was having none of it. She once again grabbed my hand in her own ice cold one, and dragged me out of Jedediah's room, toward god-knows-where.

12 minutes later…

I stood there in Bree's room…in heels…and a dress.

A _hot. Pink. Dress_.

I looked on in an emotion several levels less of excitement and happiness and joy, all which Bree was bursting with.

She smeared the last bit of lipstick on my mouth and then pulled back, admiring her work.

And then she started laughing.

"You…Look…AWFUL!"

And so it began…

* * *

**Yo, **

**So this one's up. Annndd...did ya like it?**

**Maybe what I SHOULD be asking is; Does Sly like it? **

**Because I'm gonna tell you a secret...well, it's not really a secret now that I'm gonna tell you but It was a secret when it was born but it was promoted to a non secret now that this chapter is finished and the secret grew up and left home and it's really sad because they just grow up so fast!**

**Brianna is based on Sly.**

**There.**

**Not very exciting I know...**

**Perhaps I should do another Fake Chapter, coz I know how much you guys enjoyed my last one.**

**And Jedediah will be in the next few maybe. Hopefully...**

**Lyss.**


	21. WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU ASK SLY FOR HELP

**So I was asking Sly for an idea for Promises Forgotten and she went slightly insane in her story telling. This is what she told me should happen, mind you there is no grammar or full stops;**

"I wanna climb the Eiffel tower!" She (Honey) says and he goes "Okay then" then she goes "Yay!"

So they climb it then she gets taken over by aliens taking over her brain who are zombies crosses coz she wasn't wearing a tin foil hat and she pushes him (Jed) off the top of the Eiffel tower and he goes ARGH and goes KerrrrrrshPLAT, he actually says it mind,

then he turns into a millipede ad crawls back up but he is immune coz he is wearing a tin foil hat, a really BIG tinfoil hat and he climbs up after her

and Honey has turned into King Kong and is holding a dog on a leash from the top of the Eiffel tower and she beats her mighty man boobs and goes RAWR.

It is the result of mind control so Jed comes over and turns into a minivan and drives into her foot

The dog dropped out of the sky then a frog came over and bit Honey's eye and she went ARGH and fell on the Eiffel tower and got impaled

So then Jed was like zOMG and he went and changed her into a vampire while she was in mid-King Kong/ human form and he was still a centipede, I mean millipede, no wait, he was a minivan.

So he drove over her neck to do this then he turned back into a vampire human guy and so did Honey and he bit her and she turned into a vamp, then she went crAAAZZZYY on him and turned into a monkey-man and attacked him.

Then she turned back coz she was SO tired after having beat her mighty monkey chest and holding a dog and she fainted and landed on the dog on a leash who squeaked and whom bit her and gave her rabies.

She then woke up a few minutes later and was frothing at the mouth with RABIES and Jed was like; "Geez, I know I'm good lookin' an' all but you don't have to froth at me"

Then she ran at him and beat him over the head with a tissue box, after this she had a spaz attack and bit off his nose so that he was like the nose-dropped-off sphinx

and he got angry and jumped at the ground, trying to tackle it, then died and she was like "NOOOOooooOOOOOooooo" he was angry see, then she tried to jump onto him and weeped but she missed and hit the ground and died.

And they turned into ghosties and they chased the dog forevaaaaaa.

THE END

**ALTERNATE ENDING**

Jed was watching The Bold and The Beautiful and he was like _(--Me: So he was watching TBATB at the Eiffel tower? Sly: Yush--)_ and then he went NOOOOooo! NOO SANDRA DON'T SO IT!!! And ran at the TV and wept,

then Honey tried to jump on him to join him but she missed and hit the ground BUT she did not die, as she picked herself up from the ground, Jed hugging the TV, A DINOSAUR CAME AROUND THE CORNER!!! And it squished Honey, Jed, the Dog, AND THE TV WITH THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL ON IT!!

THE END 

(--Me: NO! NOT THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL!!--)


	22. IGOTINAFIGHTWITHATREEAND,WELL,I LOST

Chapter 20

After the torture-Honey session was over and I had removed the muck from my face, and returned to my normal clothes, Bree decided to drag me outside where she proceeded to climb a tree.

I stood on orange and brown leaf-covered ground with my arms crossed over my chest, watching her fly up those branches like a squirrel.

"C'mon Honey!" She called from behind a thick patch of leaves.

I shook my head, confused about how she could navigate up there so fast with her weird hat still stuck to her head.

"I'm not climbing the tree Bree."

I heard a groan of disappointment. "Lighten up a little!" She told me.

"No." I called back to her stubbornly.

I heard her let out a loud, overdramatic sigh and some leaves rustled. Bree appeared from beneath the leaves, narrowing her eyes at me threateningly.

I raised my eyebrows waiting for the threats.

She smiled at my challenging look and cleared her throat. "Either you climb this tree, or we play dress ups again!"

Well, that pretty much did it.

"NO!" I yelled immediately. "Fine! I'll climb up the stupid tree."

"Yay!" I heard her sing as I stomped up to the trunk of the thing, grumbling incoherent non-G-rated words.

I looked around at the branches, wondering how the heck I was gonna actually climb it when all of the sudden a hand grabbed my hoodie by the collar and I was being lifted up into the tree.

I cried out in surprise and lashed out at whoever it was who was lifting me.

"What the--?"

My feet connected with the thick brown bark covered branch and I turned my head. "Bree? How did you--? How are you able to--?"

She just smiled innocently at me. I stared back in bewilderment.

"How?" I breathed out.

And she just shrugged. She turned around and grabbed a thinner branch above her head, putting one green shoed foot on the trunk of the tree she lifted herself up to another thick branch above us. "Just step where I step and do what I do. Oh, and try not to slip, I don't wanna be cleaning honey all off of the ground." She instructed me.

I shook my head, fighting back a smile.

My new friend was a freak.

So after a lot of near-death experiences which were followed by Bree's hysterical laughs, and pokings at my clumsiness, we made it to the top, where someone had set up a thin wooden plank for us to stand on safely.

It was square-shaped and it rocked slightly, but it did it's job, even with our combined weight.

I was looking down at it worriedly when Bree poked my arm violently. "Honey! Look…" She gestured excitedly to the scene.

I looked up and gasped.

Our heads were sticking out of the crown of the tree, and the direction we were looking gave us a perfect view of the entire mansion. It was massive and white, surrounding it on all sides was around 200 metres of thick, greenest of green grass with a couple of white paths leading to certain areas, I saw with slight curiosity, a path that disappeared into the forest.

"Wow…" I breathed.

From the corner of my eye I saw Bree grinning excitedly. She pointed to the mansion. "That's our house."

"_Your_ house." I immediately corrected her.

I flinched in surprise and tore my eyes off of the mansion when she spun herself to face me, an annoyed look on her face. "_Ours_." She insisted. "You're my sister now, and sisters live together."

I frowned at her and opened my mouth to explain to her that I wouldn't actually be related to her at all until her stupid parents forced me to marry her cousin, or brother or whatever Jedediah was to her, but I was interrupted by a yell.

"Honey?! Brianna?! Where are you?!"

Bree swelled up beside me, breathing in as much air as possible and I watched slightly taken aback.

"JED'S HOME!" She yelled letting out all of the air at once, jumping up and down on the thin bored, that creaked concernedly.

And then I blinked. And Bree was gone.

"What the--?" I murmured.

I looked down, past my feet and saw leaves rustling, and a flash of blue and beige.

What? She was just leaving me up here?

Yes.

I watched Bree as she sprinted out of the forest and across the green grass, towards a shiny black car where a man with dark hair was getting out. Two other figures were already standing nearby and I guessed that they were Marissa and Johnathan.

I blinked. Holy bad-word.

That must be Jedediah.

The panic all came back at once and I childishly crouched so that I couldn't see them anymore, and they couldn't see me.

I didn't wanna go down there and meet him. I didn't want anything to do with them, with any of them.

Maybe I could just hide up here. I thought about this for a moment, and then sighed, brushing the thought aside.

_No. _I will not be the silly blonde chick hiding in a tree in one of those late-night horror movies. I will face this stupid scenario head-on.

I don't really want to. But I will. It's what Kevin would do.

"Now, how do I get down?" I asked myself quietly. I worked my way into a sitting position and gazed down into the maze of leaves and twigs and branches all ready to hit me as I fell. I gulped and forced my stomach back into my tummy area.

"You're not gonna fall."

That's what _I _thought.

I slowly stretched my leg downward, pointing my converse-clad foot. I got my left foot touching the branch and I was moving slowly, working to put my entire weight on it, when I --of course-- slipped.

It was the single most terrifying moment of my life.

My mouth was open in a silent scream as I watched the branches coming toward me.

I grunted as I hit the first one with my shoulder, causing my body to spin and hit the next one with my upper leg. I hissed as the next one grazed the back of my head, and whimpered as the last one hit my funny-bone with a snap.

Thank god it was the branch that snapped and not my funny-bone.

Finally I stopped falling, but only when I hit the bush.

I laid there for a moment, struggling to remember how to breathe.

Yeah…oww. Was the only thing going through my brain.

When I got my breathing skills back, all I could hear was the pounding in my head. It vibrated all through me, making the pain in my shoulder and leg sharper, and more…painful.

I laid there groaning quietly every once in a while, reciting my dictionary of profanities in my head.

I hurt. I hurt lots.

Suddenly I heard someone tromping through the bushes and leaves, coming closer and closer, and then; "OHMYGOD! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

"No." I moaned.

I heard Bree rush over and I opened my eyes. Her worried face came into view. "Jono!" She screamed, looking off somewhere to my left.

I heard more footsteps coming and groaned again.

Please don't let that Jedediah guy come, don't let him see me for the first time looking like one of my broken Barbie dolls.

I groaned again, and lifted my head slightly. I let out a curse.

Yeah, that didn't feel nice at all.

Moments later, Bree's face pulled back and was replaced with a very worried looking Johnathan's.

"Honey? Can you hear me?" He asked.

"Yes." I moaned.

"Can you move your fingers for me?"

What was he a doctor?

I wiggled them anyway.

"Is there any pain in your head?"

I groaned again, scrunching up my face. "Yes. There's pain. There's a heck of a lot of freaking pain."

"Can you tell me where it is?"

"Back of my head." I mumbled.

"Okay. Did you hit your back or your neck when you fell?"

Ugh, why all the questions Dr. Phil?

"No. Just my shoulder and my leg. And my elbow."

I winced as Johnathan touched it gently. "Did you hear any snaps or cracks?" I cringed, imagining what a 'snap' or 'crack' would sound like.

"No." I told him.

I tried lifting my head again, and got my chin to my chest before swearing loudly and dropping it back to the ground.

"I'm guessing there's some deep muscle bruising." I heard Johnathan murmur.

"Really?" I muttered to myself. I heard him laugh softly.

"Here, I'll carry you back to the house." He leant down and went to slide his hands under my knees and back but I stopped him with a shake of my head. "Nah, It's fine, I can walk."

Johnathan looked down at me uncertainly. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." I said, an octave too high. "Could you just…help me up? Please?"

I smiled waveringly as he slid a cool hand under my back.

Painfully I sat up, with a lot of Johnathan's help.

"Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod!" I heard Bree chanting. I looked over wincing at the tugging pains ripping through my neck and saw her there with her hands pulling the rim of her hat down on both sides and hopping from one foot to another like all of the sudden the leaf-covered floor had turned to lava.

"She's dead right? Or dying? Or both?! Ohmygod! It's all my fault! I should've been the clumsy human one who felled outta the tree! I should be the one with the deadness all through me! I should--"

"Brianna!" Johnathan interrupted her. Bree looked at him, almost on the verge of tears, still bouncing from one foot to the other. "Honey will be fine, a bit sore, yes, but far from death I would think."

Her face crumpled in anguish, "You just _think_ that! But nobody _thinks_! They just think that they think they do! But they don't really! They're all _liars_! _Liars_! And now Honey's _dead_ and I'll never have another sister _ever_ _again_! Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, _ever_!"

Johnathan shook his head at her ranting.

"That girl." He muttered.

Well, obviously there's more than one non-crazy person here other than me.

Thank freaking god.

* * *

**Anybody believe that this is 4 pages? No? Me neither.**

**Well, I pinky swear that teh one and only Jedediah WILL appear in the next chapter.**

**PROMISE.**

**Don't do a Honey and fall outta a tree. REVIEW!**

**I love ya'll that do. **

**EHEHEHE; Ya'll.**

**Lyss.**


	23. HE'S VERY,,,NONSPEAKY,

Chapter 21

We limped out of the forest, well, I limped.

Johnathan walked beside me with one hand resting on my lower back while Bree shuffled along further behind. She blamed herself for my injuries and nothing Johnathan or I said otherwise got through to her.

I sighed and continued to glare at Johnathan.

Did I mention his hand was touching my back?

He stared straight ahead, completely ignoring my heated stare.

_Stop touching me. Stop touching me. Stop touching me. Stop touching me. _I chanted in my head. And then after that; _OW!_

We'd made it across the lawn, and then of course being me, I tripped over the less than a centimetre high edge of the white path leading off from the dirt covered driveway into the forest.

I stumbled but was caught by strong, cold, pale hands. I glared up at Jono.

Hehe, Jono.

He raised his eyebrows in amusement. "You're welcome."

I shrugged him off and hopped sideways, away from him, still glaring.

Then I turned my attention to the people standing in the driveway, watching us.

I stared at the shaggy black-haired guy wearing the jeans and the black leather jacket and I had to consciously tell my jaw to stay closed.

Marissa stood beside him with a pale hand on his shoulder, smiling at us.

"Jeddy-doo!" I heard Bree yell from behind me. I would've turned to look at her if I wasn't frozen, gazing in shock at this guy; Jedediah. Or Jed. Or Jeddy-doo. Or whatever.

In the corner of my eye I saw Bree come up beside me, she was smiling now.

Insane girl.

"Jeddy-doo! This is Honey! She's really pretty! We're best friends now and we just climbed a tree and--" She looked me up and down. "You're not really dead _are_ you? You liar." She scowled at me and then skipped up the white path behind Jedediah and Marissa --who had just noticed my injuries and was looking at me concernedly-- and toward the house.

We watched her go.

"Is she always like that?" I murmured more to myself than anyone.

"Yes." Jono sighed. "She has a habit of unintentionally making herself the centre of attention." He said it exasperatedly, but I could hear the love in his voice.

I frowned, wishing my father talked about me with that sorta tone.

"Yeah, I can tell."

"What on earth happened to you Honey?" Marissa asked after a moment, concern written all over her face.

I turned my attention back to her and then looked down at the ground; embarrassed.

"Uhh…I fell outta a tree." I mumbled, loud enough for her to hear.

My hand came up and rested on the opposite shoulder, causing me to wince.

There was a silence.

"Johnathan, why don't you take Jed's things up to his room, and I'll go ahead and start on lunch." Marissa said suddenly, giving Jono a look.

He blinked, confused before his face stretched into a knowing smile. "Oh, yes of course."

I narrowed my eyes at them.

Oh, I know what they're doing.

Leaving me here with him…

Jono left my side and went around to the back of the shiny black car.

Marissa waited for him as he collected the large black duffel bag from the boot of the car and then together they walked up the white path toward the house. But not before Marissa turned and gave me a wink of what I guess was encouragement.

And then we were alone.

The silence dragged on and I looked down and kicked the ground a couple of times, unsure of what to do or say.

"Why did they keep calling you Honey?" I looked up, startled. Jedediah stood there with his arms crossed lazily over his chest, looking more _through_ me than _at _me.

Jedediah's voice was smooth and confident. Not too deep, but definitely not high. It was...perfect.

Oh, shut up, brain! He's not even _looking_ at me.

I opened my mouth to explain but no sound came out. I closed it again and cleared it with a cough.

"Uhh, it's my name. Honey. Addams. Honey Addams" I explained nervously.

Jed just kept staring through me. From where I was I couldn't the colour of his eyes, but from what I _could_ see, they had a silvery tinge to them.

"Right." He said, sounding as if he didn't really care in the first place.

There was an awkward silence.

This really wasn't at all what I was expecting.

Well, I don't actually know what I _was_ expecting but I know that it wasn't, _this_.

And I don't know what to say.

I decided that it was better to just stay quiet. Which I'm so good at.

"Well," I said, "I'm going inside to get some frozen peas an' corn or something for my head. And my shoulder. And my leg. Nice meetin' you."

He said nothing in return.

Whatever.

I walked around him and up toward the house.

Well, that wasn't weird or awkward at all.

* * *

**Don't get angry at me! He's supposed to be boring here and Honey's not thinking very clearly. She's tired and she just fell outta a tree.**

**But seriously, what would you do if you're meeting this random guy you've never met before that you're supposed to marry in 2 months? **

**Huh? Tell me.**

**Anyway, I have Mars Pods.**

**Here have one.**

**Oh...right...computer..**

**Anyway, Thank you for the reviews everyone. =D**

**Lyss.**


	24. WONDERINGS

Chapter 22

I laid on my back, staring up at the white roof with a bag of peas underneath my head, a bag of corn on my throbbing shoulder, and another bag of peas on my upper leg, dreaming up all of the ways my first meeting with my future-husband-fiancé-guy could've gone differently.

_I looked up from the ground, thanking Jono for catching me, and set my eyes on the most glorious creature I had ever seen. _

_His black, shaggy hair hung around his strong, pale face, his silvery-something eyes gazed at me as if I were the only thing holding him to this world. _

_He walked toward me with lithe, controlled, purposeful steps, his eyes never leaving my own. He took me in his arms and looked down at me. I swooned in his arms, staring up at him. _

"_Honey, my love," He said, "I know we've only just met an entire 2 seconds ago but it feels like I've known you for my entire life." _

_We looked at each other lovingly. _

"_As do I." I whispered, bringing my hand up and stroking his smooth cheek. _

"_I love you." He said to me. _

_My heart beat in my chest, and I knew…I just knew in my heart, that he was the one. My one true love. _

"_As do I." And then we kissed, and I heard wedding bells, and fireworks went off and then there was this voice in my head singing; "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream…" _

What the fudge?

I frowned and sat up slowly, sorta alarmed and weirded out by my minds wonderings. I shuffled back wards and leant up against the white headboard of my bed, slipping the packet of frozen peas behind my head. I put the other bags back on my shoulder and leg and then sat there, trying not to groan.

The bags were freezing.

I cautiously let my mind wander back to Jedediah.

He was good-lookin', there's no doubt about that, but the way he just looked straight through me reminded me too much of the way my dad looked at me when he was forced to talk to me.

You don't even know him, I reminded myself, He could be really nice. First impressions are almost always wrong.

I sighed. I wonder if Marissa really is making lunch…

I turned my head slightly to the left and looked at the pretty cool white and blue spotted alarm clock with the green numbers.

Holy whoa, it's almost 4 pm!

So, no lunch then…I sighed again.

I turned my head back to face forward again and stared dully at the bathroom door.

I was trying to decide whether I should go have a shower or not with my stuffed up body when my door flung open and there stood, of course, Bree.

I watched her as she shut the door quietly behind her before skipping over and sitting down on the edge of my bed, smiling at me happily.

"Heyya!"

I stared at her, once again, with much less enthusiasm.

"Hi." I said in a monotone.

She fell backwards on my bed, and I was trying to figure out how the heck her hat didn't fall off when she did that when she started talking.

"So, what'd you and Jeddy-doo talk 'bout?"

She was staring up at the roof, and I watched her as she raised her arms and formed a gun with her hands and started shooting invisible thingys.

"Nothing." I told her truthfully.

She stopped mid-shoot and she turned her head to look at me dubiously. "Nothing? You talking about _nothing_? What a boring subject! 'Did you hear about the murder of that Nothing?' 'Yeah, it was terrible Nothing happened!' 'That's terrible!' Nothing, nothing, nothing!"

I stared at her with one eyebrow raised before blinking a few times and shaking my head slightly. "Uhhh, well, no. Basically all that happened was that he said hi, I said hi and then I left." I shrugged. "That's it."

Bree grinned in relief, "Oh, good. That's better than nothing I guess."

I had to laugh.

"Well," She continued, "It's all good. Jeddy just needs to warm up to you." I looked at her sceptically.

Suddenly Bree burst into hysterical laughter. "And I know the perfect way too!"

I cringed. "Yeah…Eww.."

All at once Bree stopped her laughing and jumped up off of the bed.

She walked around to the end of it and placed her hands shoulder -length apart on the end of the mattress. She stared at me seriously. "Well Honey-doodles, you two are getting married in 2 months."

I cringed again and bent my uninjured leg so that my dirt-covered-converse-covered foot was next to my knee.

"Ugh," I cringed again, "Don't remind me."

The seriousness fell away and was replaced by her grin.

"Too late!" She whispered, and then she dropped to her knees and slid underneath the bed.

I frowned in confusion. "What are you--?" That's about when my bedroom door flew open with a bang --thank god there was a little square rubber door stopper half way up the wall other wise my flawless blue walls would've had a big hole in it-- and there stood the groom-to-be himself.

He didn't look very happy.

I frowned and was about to protest his presence in my room when he suddenly disappeared and reappeared over near the wardrobe and bathroom doors. I blinked.

What the freaking fudge plate?

_Vampire_.

The word popped up in my mind, I could almost see it floating above Jedediah's head, with flashing lights and a big fat arrow.

Vampire's don't exist. I argued.

Uh-oh, talking to myself was the first sign of insanity, arguing with myself must be the second.

I'm doomed.

So, back to my black-haired-fiancé tearing up my bedroom.

He had wrenched both the bathroom and wardrobe doors and searched high and low for something…and now he was looking in every corner, every dark spot in my room, all the while muttering angrily to himself.

I caught the words 'She', 'Her', 'Kill', 'Book', 'Drawing' and 'Dead'.

I just sat on my bed, going completely unnoticed by Jedediah, watching him.

His movements were lithe, but sharp, and very fast.

He was just about to check the wardrobe once again when a muffled giggle was heard coming from underneath my bed.

Jedediah froze where he stood in the doorway to my wardrobe. He slowly turned and set his silvery-still-undetermined-coloured eyes on the end of my bed.

Almost silently, he walked over and crouched down.

I watched in amusement as, without warning, his hand reached under and he grabbed Bree.

I heard her squeal and laugh in protest as he dragged her out from under the bed. His face was set in a cold glare as he stood up, towering over Bree angrily. I couldn't see her from where I sat but I could hear her breathless giggles.

"It's not funny." He told her, crossing his --muscular, I just noticed-- arms over his chest.

I started when I realised that what he had just said was one of the first things I had said to Bree. He even had the arms crossing thing down-pat.

How weird.

"I told you that if you went into my room again I would set your hat on fire." Jedediah stated.

Bree's laughing stopped.

"Ye shan't toucheth my hatyeth!" She cried determinedly, while scrambling up and away from him. I watched them run around my room for a bit, before Bree saw an opening and she dived underneath his outstretched arm, and ran out the door, laughing like a maniac as she did. Jedediah, still grumbling, stalked after her.

And I was left alone.

Thank god.

My thoughts drifted to my family, to Kevin, to Katie, to Potato and Corey. They were family too.

I wondered what was wrong with Potato's picture the other day?

Hey, do I still get to go to school? We drove a long way outta town.

I guess I could get up at 6 or something, eww. I cringed. What an unholy hour. But if I had to I would, just so that I'd have something familiar in my life.

Who am I kidding? I'm getting _married_ in 2 months, I'm not going back to school. I'm not gonna see Potato or Corey again.

Yeah, I am! They could come to my wedding!

And it's not like I'm actually gonna get held prisoner here, this is just my new home. I can still go out to the movies and bowling and stuff, not that I actually did before, but whatever.

I wonder what Kevin's doing. Did he tell Mum and Dad?

Questions and wonderings ran through my mind, and I was so caught up in them that I didn't even notice as the hours went by, as my eyes slid shut, as my subconscious took over my consciousness' job.

I fell asleep.

Without lunch.

* * *

**Crocodile Dundee is a legend. I'm just sayin'. Heh, he's so freaking Australian.**

**"Oh that's a King Brown."**

**"It's poisonous?" **

**"Oh yeah."**

**Hahaa, brillant. xD**

**Lyss.**


	25. FIRST DAY

Chapter 23

The first thing I noticed when I woke up the next morning was Little Ted sitting next to me, kinda creepily watching me sleep. The next thing I noticed was the throbbing pain in my head and shoulder.

I raised my left arm --which didn't have the bruised, complaining shoulder-- and brought it up to my face with a groan.

And then I realised something.

I'm in a stranger's house. In a stranger's bed. With strange people living nearby.

And one of them is insane.

And the other one's eyes change colour.

And the other-other one's…well, he wants me to marry his son who is the other-other-other one who doesn't seem to like me very much.

And my arm hurts…

I tilted my head to the side to see the clock.

Since when do I wake up at 8 o'clock in the morning?

I frowned, and looked down at my body.

When did I get under the covers?

I pulled back the blanket and sheets and saw that along with the bags of frozen peas and corn, my shoes had been taken off.

I dropped my head back onto the pillow and sighed.

Who freaking cares.

Without really thinking about it, I dragged myself up off of the bed, and tripped over to my suitcase.

I threw my pillow randomly off behind me and then pushed my suitcase over sideways, it hit the carpet with a dull thud.

I moved it again so that it was on it's back and then unzipped it. I threw the lid open and looked down at all of my clothes.

I started digging through them, searching for a shirt or a jumper to wear. A curious sniff to my own made me crinkle my nose in disgust.

It smelt like sweat and dirt and of all things…outdoorsy.

I found some decent enough looking clothes and made my way to the bathroom.

The muscles in my feet and legs tensed as I stepped from the carpet onto the frozen tiled bathroom floor.

I locked the door behind me and turned on the heat lights.

I walked over to the sink and dumped my clothes beside it, and then I looked up at the mirror. At me.

Meh, I didn't look that bad.

I quickly looked down at the white sink and I gulped, holding an emotion that I couldn't place.

Once I had a grip on myself again, I scratched my arm and then looked over to the shower.

The _giant_ shower.

Excitement bubbled up inside of me, and I quickly unzipped my hoodie and threw it over the side of the spa.

I _slid _open the clear glass door and looked inside both ways. It looked even bigger inside.

All traces of my previous tiredness had been vanquished.

I quickly stripped, only just remembering to pull off my socks, and then I stepped inside, slid the door closed behind me and stepped over to the shower head, which I found was as big as my hand.

I looked down and turned the hot tap on.

The next half-an-hour was absolute bliss.

............

I got dressed and dried my hair….sorta.

It was still pretty damn damp when I stepped out of that steam filled bathroom. The cool, fresh air was a relief to my lungs.

I had left my dirty clothes and towels on the floor in the bathroom. I'll take care of them later…maybe.

I stood in the middle of my room and breathed quietly. There were no sounds. Everything was absolutely silent.

My growling stomach almost made me have a heart attack.

I stared down at it as it growled again. "Shut up you." I frowned as my heart beat slowed.

I sighed. "What makes you think I'll be able to find the kitchen this time 'round?" I asked nobody. I nodded at the answer. "Yeah, there's that saying. But it's just a saying, lots of sayings aren't true." I frowned at the next comment I got. "_OK_, geesh, you don't have to be a bitch about it."

And then I walked determinedly out of my bedroom door, wondering it would've been smart to leave breadcrumbs or something.

........

It took 25 minutes to find the kitchen. And then another 5 to find which one of the many doors lead to the pantry, and then the fridge.

Why? Because this kitchen wasn't a kitchen for a house.

It was a kitchen for a restaurant. A big, fancy, expensive restaurant whom sells caviar and fish guts on a platter for 50 bucks a piece.

Anyway, I got outta that silver labyrinth --there were only 3 parallel aisles in the kitchen but whatever-- and with my glass of milk and pile of slightly burnt peanut butter covered toast, I headed back up to my room. Which was conveniently much quicker back than it was to.

When there, I opened, then kicked the door shut, and strolled over to my bed. I sat down on it, twisted my still damp hair over one shoulder and just as I went to bite my first piece of toast something white caught my eye.

I looked at the folded, but standing piece of card with my name written beautifully across the front. It sat on the white bedside table, just underneath the modern looking, bright blue lamp.

I dropped my toast and made sure that my glass was settled securely in between my legs and then leant over and picked it up.

I flipped it open and saw more beautifully written words, it took me a moment to realise that I was actually supposed to read the thing.

_Honey, _

_Please help yourself to anything in the kitchen, and pardon our absence. _

_We shall return home around noon, feel free to explore your new home, and settle in._

_Kind regards, Marissa _

The writing, although beautiful were also quite joined and curly and it took me a moment to interpret.

"New home…" I whispered sadly. I put the note down on the bed beside me. I stared down at the glass of milk. I raised my hand, wincing slightly when the movement tugged at my bruised muscle, and touched the surface of the white liquid with the tip of my finger. I watched as the surface rippled outwards.

"Home…" I murmured, and then I was up, abandoning the glass of milk on my bedside table and the toast on my bed. I rushed to my backpack and started wrenching things out of it.

"Where is it?" I growled to myself.

I discarded everything behind me, just throwing it back without a glance.

I found the little black device at the very bottom of my bag. I pulled it out and sat there cross-legged, adjusting myself so that my injured leg wasn't holding hardly any of my weight.

I turned my phone on and saw with surprise that I already had 30 missed calls, from Potato, Corey and Kev.

I was guessing that it was Corey who used Potato's phone cause of the no talking thing.

I highlighted Corey's number and pressed the little glowing green button.

It was several rings before Corey answered with; "I don't care who you are, or what you want, I'm goin' back to sleep."

I was so surprised that I almost burst into laughter, Corey sounded so tired and obviously he hadn't looked at his phone before answering it; he didn't know it was me.

"It's nine-thirty," I told him, too loudly. "What are you still doing asleep?"

I heard him groan. "What are you doin' awake?" He growled.

I laughed. "Talkin' to you."

"Who the hell is this?"

"Bob."

"Honey?"

"Nope."

"Honey?"

"No, it's Bob."

"Where the heck are you? We went back to the hospital and your nut job parents looked at us like dirt and told us that you and Kev had gone home, so we went over and Kev was walking around running his hands through his hair with this insane look in his eyes. And when we walked in he yelled your name and then I was like; "Nah dude it's us" and then he asked us if we had seen you and I said nah and then he started walking around again mumblin' "What'd I do?!""

That was one of the darn longest things I'd ever, _ever _heard Corey mutter.

"I dunno." I told him.

"You dunno?" He asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, I don't know where I am."

"That's not good."

"I know."

"What're you gonna do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Yep."

"Why?" He obviously thought I'd gone mad.

"Coz I have to stay."

"Where?"

"We're gonna start going in circles with this conversation if we don't be careful."

"I don't care--"

And that's about where my phone ran outta battery.

"Crap." I mumbled.

I got up from where I was sitting and placed my phone on the corner of the desk.

"Now what?"

..............

And that's how I found myself here; outside Jed's black doors. I looked down at my wrist watch. "Ten-fifteen. I have time." I told myself.

And so, hesitantly, I turned the door knob.

* * *

**Heyya, what's up?**

**I love Play-Doh. Don't you? It's so awesome...**

**Thanks for the reviews =D**

**Lyss.**


	26. FINDINGS

Chapter 24

Like the badass criminal that I am, I stepped inside the room, turned around and quickly slammed the door shut, causing the other one to shudder.

Pressing my back to it, I looked around Jed's room, my heart pounding heavily and my breaths quick with excitement.

It just so dark and foreboding…and black.

I decided to steer clear of the bathroom and wardrobe and instead decided to familiarize myself with the things that Jed seemed to be interested in.

Which wasn't very much.

There was a rather large stereo set up next to the bookcase which unlike mine, was filled up with important looking cream coloured files choc-a-block full of paper…and also a massive collection of punk rock, rock, and screamo CD's.

I admired his collection and noticed that he liked a few of the same bands as I did.

Meh, he ain't so bad.

My attention was drawn back to the files. There were so many of them.

I very carefully slid one out and turned it over. It was heavy in my arms and it smelt strange.

'1986' was written across the front of the file in black marker.

I stood there for a moment, wondering whether I really should...

My curiosity got the better of me and I carefully opened it. My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Wow.

I walked over to Jed's black bed and sat on the end of it, never taking my eyes off of the pile of photos, notes and drawings in the file in my hands. It was amazing.

I flicked through it, gazing at the wonderful pictures of various stars and planets. I stopped at a photo of Halley's Comet and then I moved myself so that I was facing toward the top of Jed's bed, crossed my legs and started reading.

Almost an hour later I had two more files in front of me, of the years '1967' and '2006'.

The hundreds of notes that Jed had written down, presumably about the location and co-ordinates of the stars, and even their movement over the years were almost impossible to decipher, but they were ridiculously interesting non-the-less.

And the pictures…just…wow.

"Jed likes astronomy…" I said wonderingly, "I never would've guessed."

He doesn't look like the type of guy who would be interested in any of this…but all of this; I guess it proves me wrong.

I spent another few minutes studying the photos and the notes and dates scribbled down on them, and then, making sure they were in the correct order and files, I returned them to their proper places.

Hopefully, Jed wouldn't even notice.

That's when I remembered that this was indeed Jed's room and that I was not supposed to be in here.

I gasped and my eyes flew down to my watch.

"Ohmygod, it's almost twelve!" I swore and turned with a final glance toward the bookcase and the files that I was longing to read, I turned and headed for the door.

I would've made it, I could've made it if I hadn't spotted the brown-leather covered book laying open on Jed's painted black desk situated in the corner next to the doors.

I stopped where I was, arm half reaching toward the door knob. I lowered it and stared at the book.

I shouldn't have looked at it, I should've waited for another opportunity…but of course, I didn't.

Stupid Honey.

Without even a thought toward the time and the fact that Jed could be back any minute and catch me red-handed, I walked over to the book and burst out laughing.

On the open page was a picture of a very serious looking man with longer hair than the men of our time, and a funny looking frilly collar around his neck; The sort of thing that Shakespeare would wear, I thought.

But that wasn't what made me laugh, it was the fact that there was a little gingerbread man sitting on the edge of the man's frilly collar.

Not only that, but the man had four thick eyelashes on each eyes, a thin, curled moustache and a triangle shaped goatee, a wonky star was drawn in the middle of the man's forehead.

On the front of his dark, puffy armed shirt was a large love heart with the word 'Mummy' written in curled letters, and a rainbow sitting on a fluffy cloud floated beside the man's head.

It was a masterpiece.

Bree's masterpiece, I realised. This was what she was drawing on the first time we came here, this is the reason Jed was so angry.

I began to flick through the pages gently. I took in the scenes; detailed drawings of people and of places all throughout time.

There was a stone-bridge over a rushing river, a large house full with brightly lit windows, a sky full of stars, a hospital full of pained faces, two people embracing, a ballroom full of excited faces, a picture of a black haired man in an loose, untucked, white shirt and black dress pants standing alone at an alter, looking completely and utterly destroyed, a distraught woman running through a forest, her feet bare and her white wedding dress held up at the front by her hands, but trailing along in the dirt behind her…I flicked through the pages and pages of drawings but stopped as I passed one that really caught my eye.

I backtracked, the book still settled flat on the table.

I looked curiously for the picture of the messy haired girl.

After a few moments and a couple of flicks back and forwards through the pages, I found it. I bent down, closer and frowned.

The girl stood in front of a forest, her zip-up jumper was looking quite well-worn and was covered in leaves and dirt, her hand was up settled on her opposite shoulder and she was leaning heavily on only one leg. She looked as if she were in pain.

My frown deepened impossibly.

The girl's hair was up in a pony-tail, but her messy bangs hung around her face.

I stared wide eyed at it, thinking; Impossible…That's--

Without any warning, this large, pale hand came out of freaking nowhere and scared the crap out of me. It slammed the book of drawings shut and then everything was frozen.

My heart was doing a marathon in my chest but my breath was jammed in my throat.

Slowly, I turned my head, tracing up the pale muscular arm with my eyes. They settled on Jed's furious looking face.

He was glaring at me.

_At_ me. Not _through _me.

I could almost feel the waves of cold resentment flowing off of him.

I gulped, trying not to wet my pants.

He glared at me for a few moments more, and I just stared back with wide eyes, still not breathing.

Then; "Get out."

He growled it quietly, a million ways of saying 'I hate you' hidden in between those two words.

And I did the smartest thing I had done in fair while;

I got.

* * *

**Whoo! Another Chapter!**

**I've noticed how non-eventful they've been getting so I promise from now on to attempt to skip the loser-ey stuff and get on with the actual story.**

**Anyway, enjoy! And don't forget to review!**

**REviews make me write faster..it's a proven fact..**

**Lyss.**


	27. SECRETS

Chapter 25

Jed sat down on the edge of his bed with the Book of Dreams in it's brown leather cover in his pale hands.

The door fell shut behind the girl, he could hear her thudding footsteps on the carpet as hurried away, toward the complete wrong direction to her room.

What was she doing in his room?

Who gave her the right to just waltz in here while he was out with his family and look through his stuff?

Who does she think she is?

An unnerved feeling flowed through Jed as he gazed at the picture of the injured girl.

The resemblance was too thorough.

A muscle in his forehead flinched as he turned the page to the woman running through the forest in her wedding dress.

She was running from him, he knew it.

Just like everyone else, he thought, just like Amelia.

His jaw clenched and his brow furrowed.

With one hand he snapped the Book of Dreams closed and a wall fell down behind his silvery eyes.

He discarded it beside him and clenched his hands, glaring at the wall in front of him.

…I don't care.

I spent the next week trying to avoid Jed at all costs.

Which wasn't really all that difficult.

My arm, leg and head healed considerably, and other than the one quick check that Johnathan insisted on me having, he and Marissa let me be, presumably to let me settle in.

Bree on the other hand, had a much different approach to my settling in.

Every single morning at quarter past nine, Bree would wake me, shaking and prodding me until I gave in and let her drag me to my now partially filled wardrobe and pick out clothes for me to wear, which usually included mismatched socks and shoes and shirts.

And then we would wander down to the kitchen, Bree taking the lead since I still couldn't find my way around, and would test out different pancake and porridge mixtures.

Most of the experiments _deserved_ to be binned.

I don't think I'll ever get the scent of vanilla essence and cinnamon out of my nostrils. Yuk.

Nothing really eventful happened on that first week, except for on the 3rd day when at eight o'clock in the morning Bree came skipping in dressed in her full attire and hat, carrying a newspaper with the words; _'LOCAL GIRL GONE MISSING FROM HER PARENTS HOME'_ written across the front.

My eyes widened as I read the article. Well, I didn't read all of it; I didn't need to.

There was this massive-ass picture of my face just to the left underneath the heading.

"Hey, they actually reported me missing." I muttered in disbelief.

"Some kid called Corey something-who-rather-bob-jane-law-school did." Bree told me unconcerned.

I didn't look up at her, instead I stared at the horrendous picture, a slightly younger me staring into the camera with a sour look on my face.

This is the best picture of me they could come up with?

"Corey Howard." I told Bree nonchalantly

"You know him?" She asked in surprise.

I laughed, "Know him? We're almost related."

For some reason Bree didn't find this amusing at all.

"Have ye spoken with this Corey McHoward?"

I looked up at her this time. "What? While I've been here? Yeah. On the first day. But the stupid phone cut off on me."

Bree looked horrified. "Honey, what did you tell him?! Did you tell him where you were?! Did you give him names?! What did you talk about?!"

I frowned at her. "I didn't tell him anything. He asked where I was and I said that I didn't know, which is the utter truth of the fact."

Bree grabbed my shoulders and leant forward so that our foreheads were touching as well as our noses. She stared almost cross-eyed into my eyes.

"Are you absolutely, positively, genuinely, ratatouille, smack-a-rooley sure?"

I raised one eyebrow.

"Uhh, yeah?"

She pulled back.

"Good."

That was one of the weirdest mornings I had ever had.

And then the day continued in it's weirdness; later on in the evening, Bree had wandered off and I was trying to find her when I came to a staircase.

And below I could hear hushed voices that abruptly stopped when I hesitated at the top.

I bent over the railing and saw that all four of the peoples; Johnathan, Marissa, Bree and Jed were standing at the bottom, staring up at me with smiles.

Well… not Jed, he wasn't even looking up, actually he looked kind of pissed. And if he was pissed, it must've been a very secretive, hushed conversation involving _me_.

Which made me feel so secure.

So, I hurried off after that, and soon after Bree joined me in my room, and when I attempted to interrogate her about the 'Secret Convo' she just changed the subject and started rambling on something about cheese-sticks and leopards and multilingual people and what they all had in common.

I had let it go…for now.

So that week wasn't very eventful was it? But the next...

* * *

**Yo, I got my own website now; .com/.**

**It's got biographies, --at least I think that's what they are--on all of the Promises Forgotten characters, **

**A couple of my own poems, and I'm adding more stuff pretty much every day.**

**So go on there, take a look around and message me, give me some ideas of what I could put on there, maybe a spoiler page or something?**

**Thanks for everything guys.**

**Lyss.**


	28. ANGER

Chapter 26

I dunno if I was PMSing or what, but every single day that week, I was. So. Freaking. Angry.

On the first morning Bree came into my room at quarter past nine and woke me as usual in her happy, go-lucky way.

I threw a pillow at her like usual and groaned, mumbling 'go away', also like usual. It was when she threw it back at my head and poked me in the ribs that I went off.

I'm not gonna tell you the colourful words that flew out of my mouth that morning, I'm just gonna say that Bree did in no way deserve them. But I didn't care.

After backing slowly out of the room with wide, scared eyes, and gently closing the door on her way out, I simply turned over and went back to sleep.

An hour later, I woke, changed and made my way down to the kitchen, surprisingly not getting completely and utterly lost on the way. I passed through the hall with the giant paintings of the woman next to the tree and the knight-looking man with the sword, through several doors, down a short flight of stairs and found myself in the kitchen. I made myself some cereal, sat at a bench and started eating.

Then Jed came in the door.

Either he didn't notice me sitting there or he was just ignoring me. I didn't care. Or…at least I thought I didn't.

He had poured himself a glass of what looked like thick red syrup, and was making his way out of the door when I stood up, picked up my empty bowl slightly, and then let it drop loudly back onto the bench. He froze in the doorway, shoulders tense.

"Hey." I called.

I was looking at him over the 2 long benches that made up the 3 aisles of the kitchen-fit-for-a-restaurant's silver layout.

"You aren't gonna even talk to me?" I asked him.

He didn't respond.

"We can't ignore each other forever you know."

More silence.

"Fine, I'm sorry I snooped around your room. Happy?"

His head turned slightly to one side and I noticed that the hand that wasn't holding the glass was clenched into a tight fist.

"You had no right." He growled obviously through his teeth.

"Neither did you, you creep." I snarled.

Man, was I just looking for a fight? Or was I usually like this?

His torso turned slightly this time, and he glanced at me through the corner of his eye. "Excuse me?" He growled.

I twisted my mouth into what I guessed was supposed to be a smile.

It didn't feel like a smile. At least not a very nice one.

"You're excused. But not from drawing creepy ass pictures of girls you only just met." This time he turned around.

His silver gaze locked onto me. "What are you talking about?"

I rolled my eyes. "Your book, idiot." I saw his jaw clench.

"The book you snuck into my room to read, _without _my permission?" I nodded smugly. "Yep, that book. Why'd you draw me for?"

"Why would I draw _you_?" He spat out harshly.

My eyes narrowed. "That's my question exactly, _stronzo_."

So I had looked up a couple of Italian swear words on the internet…go ahead and sue me.

"What did you call me?" He growled.

He was actually looking a bit menacing. But I didn't back down. Dumbass.

"I called you a _stronzo_, _**stronzo**_." I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow challengingly.

He shook his head and glared. "Do you even know what that means, _idiota_?" He asked mockingly.

"Do you?" I shot back. He rolled his eyes.

"You're not even worth it." And then he turned walked out.

I chuckled triumphantly. "I knew he didn't." I muttered, sitting back down and playing with my empty bowl with a smug smile plastered on my face.

"That idiotic _stronzo_."

It was then that I realised that instead of answering my question about the drawing of me injured and clutching my shoulder inside of his book, he had started an argument and completely thrown me off.

The smile disappeared. My jaw clenched. My eyes hardened.

He was good.

"You won this time…" I muttered angrily before getting up and storming out of the kitchen.

* * *

I spent the rest of the morning getting myself lost in the corridors of the house. Every now and again, I would see a flicker of beige and black in the corner of my eye, but when I stopped and looked about, there was no one there but myself.

In my wanderings I discovered that there were many, _many _doors that were locked, and not many that were actually open. This frustrated me to no end, for I was bursting to see what was behind each of them.

I had just reached out to try yet another door handle when a voice came from behind me.

"Hello, Honey." I retracted my hand quickly and spun around.

I blinked. "Marissa…" I mumbled, "Uhh…Hi…"

I looked down at the ground, unwilling to meet her silvery-violet gaze. She really was beautiful.

She stepped closer. "Are you alright Honey?"

My eyes flickered up in confusion, and agitation. "Yeah, I am. Why?"

She was looking at me with concerned eyes.

That was just annoying.

"Bree told me that you were very upset this morning. And that you and Jedediah had a…disagreement in the kitchens." Her eyes seemingly wanted some sort of confirmation from me.

I nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, we did."

I wonder if Jed had told her about that or if Bree had been spying.

"I'm just worried that these events could cause some…unfavourable consequences in the future."

I frowned.

"_Unfavourable consequences_?" I repeated.

Marissa nodded affirmation.

"Its just…Jedediah isn't too happy about the deal struck between Johnathan and yourself, and I'm afraid that if you two don't get along, then Jedediah might just…" She trailed off.

I stared at her through narrowed eyes. "Might just what?"

She blinked, and her eyes left mine for a moment, trailing off to the right like she was carefully thinking out her next words before she said them.

"He might just back out."

I felt taken aback, and extremely flabbergasted as to why the heck this could possibly be a bad thing.

Marissa must've seen the look on my face because she sighed. She gestured for me to come closer to her before turning slightly.

"Walk with me Honey."

I hesitated, before confidently striding up beside her.

We walked in silence for a few long moments before she began again.

"My dear, if Jedediah backs out, than the deal cannot be completed and your sister's healing will be undone." I frowned.

Damn that girl I call my sister.

Damn me.

"Well that's not good." I stated calmly.

Marissa glanced sideways at me in surprise.

"No, I suppose not."

I stopped walking and looked at Marissa strangely, anger that wasn't there previously coming from no where and hitting my in the gut.

"You _suppose_?" I said incredulously, deeply offended by her non-caring tone. "This is my _sister_ we're talking about!"

Marissa had stopped walking and fixed me with her silvery-violet gaze again.

"Oh? I thought it was about you."

I blinked in confusion.

"What? No, my sister is the one we're talking about. _My sister _is the one who almost died. _My sister _is the one who _will_ die if either me or your _stronzo _of a son back out of this dumb-ass deal that I made when I was 6 years old!"

It was silent for a moment.

And then; "If you had to make the same decision again, right now. What would you choose? Tell me." Her voice was smooth and soft, and prodding.

I was shocked into silence.

What _would_ I choose?

If it were either _my_ freedom, or Katie's _life_

…What would I choose?

"I'd…" I shook my head and sighed sadly, "I'd make the exact same mistake."

Marissa seemed to have expected this.

She nodded thoughtfully though.

"And that is why Johnathan chose you."

After looking me up and down once more, Marissa turned and swept down the hall and out of sight.

Leaving me there alone, confused and more angry and frustrated than I was before.

I made my way beck to my room, slamming the door behind me. Hopefully, no one else would disturb me today. And if they did, I would sure as hell give them a piece of my mind. I walked to the bathroom, ran myself a bath, stripped, stepped inside. And found myself drifting to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, I was woken at half past nine by Bree's cautious prodding. "Hellllloooooo?" She whispered. "Are you awake?" I frowned and rolled over, gently swatting her hand away from my side.

"No." I growled.

"Oh," She whispered, "Are you okay?"

I sighed and mumbled out a; "Yeah."

It was silent for a moment. "Are you awake now?"

I groaned loudly. "No, Bree, I'm not awake."

"_Oh_, okay then." I heard her make her way to the door.

I let her go.

Eyes still closed, brain still half asleep I remembered what I had said to her yesterday.

Guilt ran through my limp limbs, but I tiredly brushed it out of my mind.

"Too tired." I whispered, falling back into darkness.

* * *

That day, I didn't bump into Bree, Marissa or -thank god- Jed, but Johnathan was another matter.

There was a knock at the door, and before I could holler "Rack off!" at it, the door swung open and Johnathan walked in.

"Good morning, Honey." He said.

I turned my head slightly from where I was lying on my bed flicking through a book.

"I never said come in." I muttered.

He smiled at me. "And I never asked."

I raised an eyebrow. He had some spunk in him yet, the old coot.

"What do you want, mister?" I asked him, annoyed. "I was kinda busy."

He looked at me in a '_right, sure you are'_ way through those creepy silvery-blue eyes.

I noticed that he was still wearing that suit. Did he ever take it off?

"I was just wondering how you were feeling."

I groaned and sat up.

"I'm fine! Okay? Thanks for the concern mate, but you can go and tell Bree and Marissa and even the _stronzo_ as well for all I care that I. Am. Fine. I am not angry, I am not depressed, I am not homesick…_Fine_. Okay? Okay. Now leave please." Johnathan fixed me with a calculating stare, analysing more like.

What was he looking for? A lie?

The look disappeared and he smiled.

"As you wish." He nodded a goodbye to me, and then left.

"God!" I sighed exasperatedly.

First Marissa, then Bree and now Johnathan?

Why do they even bother?

I refused to think that they possibly _cared_ about me.

That was just a waste of false hope.

Plus, I don't need them. I don't need anybody.

I reached over and grabbed Little Ted, crushing his brown furry body to my chest and resting my cheek on his head.

I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Don't need no one but you."

* * *

The day after that, I woke, dressed, stepped out of the room, and screamed.

A small, cold skinny hand closed over my mouth.

"Shhhhh!" Bree hissed.

I let out a sigh of relief and tore her hand from my face.

Anger bubbled inside of me, eliminating the fear that had locked my joints into place so firmly.

"God-dammit, Bree! You scared the freakin' daylights out of me! Where the heck did you come from?"

The girl seemed oblivious to my anger, and grinned widely at me.

"Speaking of day-light…" She whispered mysteriously.

Her head was tilted slightly forward and more so was her hat. It cast a shadow over the top half of her face, so that almost nothing was visible but her wide, crooked grin, and her eyes which seemed to catch the light and shimmer silver in a rather creepy-ass way.

I knew she was up to no good.

She reached into one of her many pockets, and pulled out a set of keys.

She dangled them in front of my face with an excited gleam in her slivery shimmering eyes.

"We haven't had any in quite a while…"

My anger disappeared.

I grabbed my hoodie, slipped on some boots, and we were gone.

* * *

Jed's entire family was worried.

The girl was unusually emotional.

Well, not emotional. Just angry.

She'd yelled at Bree, and snapped at my parents, and not to mention the small fight that they'd had in the kitchens.

Jed couldn't stand her.

His family was too good to have to worry about some little human girl going crazy.

Too nice to have her yelling at them.

Bree was especially upset.

His mother was concerned, and his father unhappy about the entire situation. Johnathan didn't like surprises, Jed knew.

That girl needed to calm down, otherwise he would take care of her myself.

No matter what his family thought. They were better off without her.

Jed was sitting in his father's study, in front of a crackling fire, surrounded by books and large paintings of people his father had known and still met up with every know and again.

He was quietly sketching a single frame from the dream he had had last night. It was a dream he had too often. A nightmare.

The Book of Dreams lay in one hand, whilst his other flew across the page, holding a thin pencil.

His ankles were crossed over one another were they lay on the top of his father's table. The chair he was reclined in tilted back slightly, it's front two legs barely touching the ground.

Everything was peaceful in that moment.

Until the door slammed open and his mother and father rushed into the room.

In a blink they were in front of the desk, staring down at Jed with a worried look in their eyes.

"She's gone." His mother said, her voice wound up in fright.

"And Bree?" Jed asked nonchalantly, briefly glancing up at his parents.

"She's gone as well."

"Son, do you know where they are?"Jed looked into his father's eyes and was irritated to see the suspicion there.

Did he really think that he would have anything to do with the girl's disappearances?

Is that why they were even bothering to tell him this?

Jed sighed. "Have you checked the garage?"

His mother blinked. Gasped.

And then the two were gone.

Jed still didn't care.

He looked down at the girl he had half drawn.

He lowered his pencil and stroked down one side of her face.

Not even his century of practice in the art of drawing could allow him to draw her to justice.

One side of his mouth tugged up slightly, and his eyes softened.

"Amelia…"

* * *

**Heyo. **

**Now, I know it's been a long time, and I'm sorry, alright? I have no excuse, and even if I did, It wouldn't matter. I'm back, I'm writing, and i think this just might be the longest chapter I've ever written. **

**Now, I have decided -for what? the 8th time?- that instead of just writing random chapters, I need a plot. So...I might need some help. **

**If you have any ideas, or just any general direction that you would like the story to go in, PM me about it. Just the smallest ideas. **

**Like; Bree can find someone who's as crazier as her and fall in love. Or... Amelia can come back.**

**Or even...Honey can get kidnapped by a bunch of bees and taken back to their hive and get eaten and pooped on.**

**Something like that. Any ideas would be much appreciated. **

**Again, sorry for the wait. **

**Lyss.**


	29. HIM AGAIN,,,

"Far out, Bree! Slow down!"

The lights about 50 metres in front of them turned red and Bree slammed on the brakes. The wheels screeched against the bitumen and I had to hold back a screech myself. The car slid to a stop maybe a metre from the white line.

Thank god there were no other cars on the road. Or cops.

As my heart-beat slowed down to a non-critical level I turned to glare at Bree who looked like she was having the time of her life.

"Do you even _know_ how to drive?" I asked her harshly.

She turned her head and grinned at me. "I got ma license!"

"How?"

"I made iiiitt.." She said secretively.

"It's a fake?"

She nodded vigorously. And then laughed happily as the lights went green.

It had been like this since we left the house/mansion/castle thing.

Foot flat on the pedal, making last-minute turns and beeping long and loud at nothing in particular.

The car we had taken was…awful. And very Bree-like.

The passenger seat door was an off-red colour, and the bonnet was spray-painted fluoro yellow, and the rest of the car?

Purple.

I looked over at Bree, who had just ran up the curb and across the foot-path in order to avoid having to stop and make a turn like any normal person would.

I secretly prayed that there were no cameras.

Bree had refused to take off her top-hat when we got into the car, and so it was sitting slightly angled on her head. The top of it was squashed up against the purple car roof and the feather on in it dangled loosely in my direction.

A few minutes later, we arrived in some town called Harringtown. Dumb name I thought.

We spent a few hours there, even saw a movie that had put me half to sleep. I bought some personal items from the pharmacy and Bree bought me a pair of 150 dollar boots just because I had stared at them for more than 20 seconds through the shop window.

I hadn't really complained.

At one o'clock I decided that Bree was getting a bit too nutty and drawing too much attention to us.

I didn't want anyone to recognise me from that stupid picture in the paper.

So we decided to grab our shopping trolley full of bags and head back.

If only it were that simple.

Firstly, Bree almost got hit by not one, but two cars in the car-park because she was riding on the back of the trolley.

And secondly, because the stupid car door wouldn't open.

I stood there, struggling to get the car door open while Bree went on and on about something-a-rather. To tell you the truth, I'd tuned out the moment she opened her mouth.

"What the heck?" I growled, hitting the top of the car once with my hand.

"It's not opening!" I sang angrily and went back to tugging on the handle with all my might.

Bree just stood there leaning happily against the back door of the car.

"Honey! _Honey!_" I heard her whisper-yell at me.

"Bree, I can't get the bloody door open!" I growled angrily, not looking at her and hitting the top of car again.

"_Honey_!" Bree hissed at me again. I sighed in frustration and turned my head to look at her. "What?" I demanded.

"Look!" She sighed pointing somewhere behind me.

With both hands still pulling on the still-not-giving handle, I looked over my shoulder nonchalantly, not really caring about whatever it was Bree was getting so excited about but willing to humour her anyway.I couldn't see anything worth noticing behind me so I rolled my eyes and returned to the stupid, infuriating car door.

It's _unlocked_, so it should _open_, it makes _sense_ for it to _freaking open!_

"It's a guy!" I heard Bree squeal excitedly beside me. "Yes Bree, there are lots of guy's 'round here." I sighed through my teeth.

"No, but _look_!" She squealed.

I cried out angrily and hit the car door again before spinning around and glaring around, looking for the _guy_.

You know how when you go to the shopping centre, there are loads of _guys_? As in male human looking people? Yeah, that's how it was.

I raised my eyebrows sceptically, looking around. "Where? What guy? Do you know how many freaking guy's there are?"

I crossed my arms and leaned back against the car, crossing one ankle over the other as I did. The anger was coming back. And it had been such a good day too.

Bree reached toward me and put one hand on the top of my head and then turned it slightly to the left.

"_That_ guy, Honey."

Oh. _That _guy.

Yeah, well I could definitely see why Bree was looking at _that_ particular guy. I mean…Wow.

He had short light brown hair that was all spiked up, pale, clear skin and was wearing a black leather jacket over a tight white shirt and jeans. Black sunnies hid his eyes from view, but for some reason I imagined them to be a kind of silvery-green.

Oh my gawd…

"Caleb." I whispered. Bree automatically turned toward me, sparkly silvery-chocolaty-brown eyes wide and curious.

"Are you _for-serial_? You _know _him?" She whispered excitedly. I blinked at her. "Um, not really. We met once, but…" I ended with a shrug, not taking my eyes off of him.

Her shoulders drooped slightly and her mouth twisted into a rueful grimace. "Oh…" She sighed.

We admired Caleb in silence. I hadn't seen him since the incident in the garden at the hospital. And now he was _right there_…And I didn't know what to think.

I was absolutely terrified that I would turn into that limp rag doll again, unable to do anything but stare into his eyes, but I was also yearning for him.

Well, my body was.

I wanted him to hold me, to finish off what he started in the garden.

Part of me wanted to run over to him and attack him with my lips.

Another part just wanted to stand there and admire him for a while longer…

And the last part wanted to turn around, rip the car door open and get the hell outta there.

But there was a few things that would complicate that last one.

One, the car door was completely and utterly stuck.

Two, there was no possible way that I would be able to move Bree from that spot where she stood staring dreamily at Caleb, at least not with out a fork lift and a couple of _Arnold Schwarzenegger's_.

And three? Caleb had stopped walking and was looking around curiously, it's almost as if he felt our eyes burning holes in his body.

I didn't want him to see me.

I quickly turned around, facing the car and pulled my black hood over my head.

Please don't see me, please, _please_ don't recognise me.

After a moment, I figured that the door was not opening, so, I decided to perform another escape tactic.

It was a pretty smooth one too.

It included all of one thing; RUN LIKE FREAKIN' HELL

This tactic is used by the best of us, and works quite well. Hell, I know it's never let me down.

So, I ran for it.

"Honey, where're you-?" Bree asked as I pushed off of the car.

It was pretty loud, and caused more than a few heads to turn.

As I got further away, slipping through the gaps between cars she yelled; "HONEY! WHERE YA GOIN'?"

If that didn't get Caleb's attention I dunno what would.

I ran out of the car park and made a split decision to go into the shopping centre. There was people there, I could hide. There was also…

The girls toilets.

Perfect.

I tried not to shove anyone as I ran, but it was hard, especially as there were so many people and shopping trolleys and little kids just came out of nowhere and got in my way.

Finally, I saw it. The little sign poking out of the wall with an arrow on it. I slid 'round the corner and ran down the corridor.

It was right there.

So was he.

"Honey."

Oh my gawd.

I stopped barely a metre from where he stood in front of the girls bathroom door.

"How the frickin-ai…" I muttered in shock.

He sighed and took his sunnies off, slipping them into his front pocket.

He took a step closer, a soft look in his eyes. I took a step back, a warning in mine.

"How did you…"

He stepped closer.

"Honey." His voice was gentle, and sweet. A tight feeling curled in the pit of my stomach.

"Caleb, stay back." I warned. I blinked as a hurt look crossed his face. "Why?"

"Because…just because…" The corner of his mouth turned up. My legs felt weak.

"We both know you don't want that." He stepped closer again, and I didn't move.

Again, and he was so close now, I had to tilt my head back in order to see his eyes. Those eyes that were just so…

"You're mine Honey." He breathed, covering my face with his cool breath. His scent was everywhere now, overwhelming my senses.

His hand reached up to stroke my cheek. I subconsciously leant into his touch, my mind clouding. "Come with me."

But there was something wrong. Not with Caleb, or what he was doing to me. No, there could never be anything wrong with that. But there was something in the corner of my eye. On the wall; a shadow. _The_ shadow.

_Johnathan_.

His hand was torn from my face, and all of the sudden Caleb was flying backwards. My eyes widened in shock.

What the-?

Suddenly, Johnathan was there in front of me. I stared at his back in confusion wondering where he had come from when a cool hand rested on my shoulder. I turned my dizzy head to the right and saw Marissa standing there looking grim.

I opened my mouth to saw something, but a slight shake of her head silenced me.

I leant to the side to see around Johnathan, and saw Caleb struggling to his feet.

"Kale Blackwater…it's been a long time." He said it with such malice that I cringed.

Caleb's head shot up, and he narrowed his silvery-green eyes at Johnathan.

"Johnathan Moonblood…" He snarled, baring his teeth in a way that looked like there was nothing he would rather do than rip Jono's throat out. His eyes flickered to my right. "And the lovely Marissa as well. How do you do?" He bowed his head once in mock politeness.

I heard a low hissing sound coming from Marissa's throat.

All this was making it very hard for my mind not to scream ridiculous assumptions at me.

'_VAMPIRES!' _being the predominant thought.

"I suggest you leave Honey alone in the future, Kale"

I heard him laugh darkly. "You don't get it do you? Honey _is_ my future."

He said it softly, and my heart skipped a beat as his silvery-green eyes looked straight into mine.

Johnathan stepped slightly to the side, blocking his view. "Stop it, Kale." He said firmly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I saw Johnathan's pale hand clench tightly at his side. "Let her go." Caleb let out a deep sigh, and then something strange happened.

I collapsed.

Anger, sadness and _fear _engulfed me. I faintly felt Marissa's cool hands on my cheeks as I laid there on the ground.

He had done it again; taken control of me. Made me forget how wrong it was for me to be alone with him. I didn't know him at all, and yet I was ready to jump when he jumped, laugh when he laughed. I was ready to die for him.

And that is why I was scared, but I was also angry because I should be stronger than this. I had spent my entire life being stronger than this.

I let out a small groan as my head started pounding. "What did he do to me?" I whispered. Marissa just stroked my hair back from my face and shushed me gently. The two men were talking, still looking up at the roof weakly, I listened in.

"You can't keep me away from her."

"She is ours now, Kale. Not yours."

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong. She is mine. She chose me."

"With or without her will?"

"It doesn't matter…she is _mine_."

"Kale Blackwater, as your Lord and Master I order you to stay away from Honey Addams." Johnathan said angrily, but firmly.

They knew each other? Johnathan was Caleb's _master_? And the way he had said it, it was like there were more than just one person saying it.

I lifted my head to see that Caleb had lowered his in what seemed to be submission.

God, I was confused.

"Yes," He forced out, "my Lord…" He let out a shuddering breath, and then came back to himself. "But I'm not sure that Miss Honey Addams will stay away from me."

I frowned angrily as he stared at me smugly.

Oh, he was so sure of that was he?

"Yeah, right, dickhead." I growled, trying not to throw up.

My head hurt, lots, even worse than when I fell out of that stupid tree.

Caleb smiled crookedly at me, and my stomach curled. I couldn't tell whether it was in a good or bad way. Maybe a bit of both.

"You'll come back to me, Honey. Once you understand what exactly is going on... what we are…and that you and I belong together."

I laughed harshly. "I don't even know you."

"And you know these people so well do you?"

I looked up at Johnathan and Marissa who were looking angrier than before, and even a tiny bit…awkward?

"I have no choice but to stay with them." I said quietly.

He frowned, as if he were getting frustrated. "You always have a choice."

I smiled ruefully. "But I really don't. Not this time."

He was confused. But he tried to hide it. He obviously wasn't the type of guy who liked vulnerability.

"They're going to kill you Honey." He said musingly.

My heart skipped a beat, and my mouth dropped open in disbelief.

I had no reason to believe him, I didn't know him, I didn't trust him.

But did I trust these two? A heavy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.

"Enough!" Johnathan growled. I hardly heard him.

Were they going to hurt me? Was I in danger? Who were they…really?

* * *

She had missed Caleb's satisfied smile.

"Leave now, Kale. I don't want to see you anywhere near Honey again."

Caleb only half heard him, he was too busy staring at the beauty that was Honey Addams.

His words had hit home. She was questioning her own safety. Soon, she would be in his arms, where she belonged.

She would truly be his.

He bowed slightly, reluctantly to his Lord and then scoured his eyes over his love again. She was staring up at him with her big beautiful hazel eyes, rimmed with thick black lashes.

Her pink oh-so-kissable lips were slightly parted in question and worry. He smiled at her, a real smile, full of white, perfect teeth.

In satisfaction, he heard her heat beat pick up and a small blush crept across her face. But she didn't seem to notice.

Caleb didn't understand how he had fallen for her. He had barely looked at a girl twice before she came along.

She had been standing outside her school, by an old oak tree, arms crossed, and looking defensive. Strong. Beautiful.

He had watched from more than 100 meters away as her beautiful narrowed eyes had softened as a little girl with curly blonde hair had rushed up to her and taken her hand.

Caleb had followed her home, heard her argue with her parents, and then rush up the stairs to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

She had a sad home life, but he would make it better.

They would get a house somewhere, wherever she wanted, and he would cook and clean for her, and hold her in his arms when she felt lonely as she often did. He would protect her, he would be there for her, he would love her.

"As you wish, my Lord." He said to Johnathan. Damn, he hated the man, but he couldn't do crap about it, so Caleb let it go.

His eyes had never left her's.

He lowered his head slightly, "Goodbye Honey."

And then Kale Blackwater was gone.

* * *

**Hey, so here's the next chapter...obviously.**

**Now for da thankies: **

_**JandMbooklovers**_

_**justreadinggg**_

_**hazeleyes14**_

_**little evil eye**_

_**LoudButStillQuiteDeadly**_

_**fall4u**_

**THANKYOU! For the ideas! They're great, and a big help, especially since you guys have similar ideas as to how you want the story to play out. **

**And to everyone else who I might've missed, THANKYOU too!**

**And to all those who have ever reviewed or even just read my stories, THANKYOU!**

**Lyss.**


	30. WORLD'S GONE CRAZY

Chapter 28

"HOOOOONNNEEEEEEY? Where are ya? HOOOOOONNNN-Jono?"

Bree stopped short at the look on his face as he turned to look at her as she walked through the door into the hall.

"Hmm." Raising an eyebrow and biting her lip she assessed the scene.

Honey was on the floor looking like she was on another planet someplace, Marissa was holding onto Jono's arm looking worried. And Jono just looked….scary.

"What's goin' on?" She asked.

"Brianna, take Honey home." Jono told her in a stiff, firm voice. Her shoulders slumped and she whined in disappointment.

"Aww, but we haven't even gotten our chicken yet!"

"Now." He growled. His tone made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She sighed, not letting it get to her, as always. "Alrighty then. Come on Hunz."

Walking up to her she tapped Honey on the shoulder before grabbing her by the arm and dragging her to her feet.

Bree was oblivious to the worried, distrusting look Honey shot toward Johnathan and Marissa, and then gazed up at Bree herself with.

Looking back to the ground, one arm over Bree's shoulders Honey whispered, "What have I gotten myself into?"

Bree just laughed.

Bree helped me back to the car, taking most of my weight with ease. My head pounded, my knees were weak, and I wasn't certain of how much control I had over my stomach.

20 minutes later we were back 'home'. Where I immediately flew from the car, into the house and emptied the contents of my stomach into the toilet bowl. I coughed and gagged, throwing up several more times before groaning loudly and sliding down the wall, leaning one arm on the seat and wiping sweaty strands of hair from my forehead with a shaky hand. The encounter with Caleb had left me shaken -obviously- and I didn't know how to deal with the muddle of feelings inside of my head. Caleb had treated me gently, kindly, almost lovingly.

He used that-that mind control power thingy that he had to make me dopey. What was up with that? Was he a mutant, like on _X-Men_? That be pretty cool. Y'know, unless he was on Magneto's side that is.

I shook my head, and then immediately regretted it when my stomach clenched and I threw my head in the toilet again. I forced myself to stop thinking for several minutes, while I willed myself to not throw up my guts.

When I was 97.5% certain that it was over, I flushed the toilet, gagging again as I watched my stomach swirl down the drain. Disgusting.

I rinsed my mouth out with the tap and wiped my mouth, looking up as I heard someone sniffing in my bedroom. I stumbled out of the bathroom and frowned in confusion at Jed standing there in my doorway, his head tilted back slightly, sniffing. "Did you just throw up?"

I frowned, and opened my mouth to answer, but the sharp clenching of my insides sent me running for the toilet again, and instead of letting me die in peace, Jed just followed me into the bathroom.

"I'm gonna dieeeeeeeee…" I groaned when I had finished. Jed sat down on the edge of the spa-bath and rolled his eyes at me. "No you're not. You probably just ate something bad." He told me, not really sounding like he cared as usual. I groaned again. "No. You know what it was? That stupid stalker of mine. He stood there and used his freaky mind controlling powers-"

"Stalker? _You_ have a stalker?" I narrowed my eyes at his disbelieving tone. "Yes. As a mattera fact I do." Jed scoffed.

"Who would wanna stalk _you_?"

I growled under my vomit smelling breath, "Ah! Why don't you just go die in a hole, Jeda-_die_-yah? And let _me_ die in peace." With that I turned my head to the side with a _humph! _

"Where would be the fun in that?" I looked at him strangely then, as he just stared back. "What?"

"Why are you even talking to me?"

"I wanna know who your stalker is."

"What?" I blinked in momentary confusion.

"Your stalker?"

"Oh! That stalker."

"There's more than one?"

"No-I-" I sighed, "Why do you wanna know?"

Jed rolled his eyes, "Because you're my future wife." He said mockingly. "And I will protect you and honour you and love you and blah-blah-blah…" It was silent for a moment, and then I burst into laughter.

One of Jed's black eyebrows raised slightly above the other as tears leaked down my cheeks and I held my stomach.

"What's so funny?" He asked, slightly annoyed. I just shook my head, unable to stop laughing.

"It's just -HAHAHA- the world's gone -HAHA- completely -HAHAHA- NUTS!" I calmed down considerably in the next few moments, while Jed just sorta sat there looking awkward.

"I mean." I started, "I have this Caleb guy confessing his love to me, and I have you seemingly acting like you actually give a damn about me, and I have this crazy feeling that you're all hiding something big from me because yer dad can do that creepy shadow thing and yer mum freaked out when my scab fell off and Bree's way stronger than she looks and…" I sighed.

"I'm just going _nuts_ and in less than 2 months we're-" I shrugged, and I knew that he understood what I was getting at.

I nodded slightly, not looking at him. "So yeah. You should probably go now, because not only do I feel like I'm gonna throw up again,"

My voice thickened, "but I'm probably gonna start crying as well. _Again_." I swallowed the lump that was quickly forming in my throat, and tried as hard as I could to hold the tears back.

Jed didn't say anything, and as the first tear trailed down my cheek, I glanced up, only to find that he was gone.

I licked my lips, wondering dimly how he had left so quickly, before I leaned forward and threw up my entire guts, stomach and heart. Tears streamed down my cheeks. Way to ruin a day.

* * *

**Hmm.. Yo.**

**Enjoy. =)**

**Bye.**

**Lyss.**


	31. JUST UP DEM DERE STAIRS

Chapter 29

My sickness was gone the next day, and so was my energy. But nothing really happened over the last 2 weeks of the month.

Until the very first day of June.

The first day of summer.

That's when things got hot. And I mean…really hot.

The temperature rose, and I was forced to hunt down Marissa and beg her for a fan.

What she gave me was directions to the attic. And an innocent smile. I, on the other hand, stood there frozen in fear as she walked off with a pleasant farewell.

The attic?

Bad things happen in the attic man! _Bad _things. _Scary_ things. Horror movie shit.

I forced myself to start walking in the direction Marissa had pointed to.

"_Around the corner, down the hall, up the small hallway on your 3__rd__ right and straight up the stairs, you can't miss it." _That's what she'd said.

"Frickin' attics…Who came up with such a stupid place to put old creepy haunted stuff?" I muttered under my breath as I passed Jed's room. Sweat beaded on my forehead and rolled down my face. My heart thudded loudly in my chest.

"Figures that they're in the same corridor, his room and the attic. Both places are creepy as hell." I whispered, counting each right turn I passed. And here's the 2nd one-"You're going to the attic?"

I yelped and jumped about a metre in the air. I spun around in a sort of angry fear, ready to punch Bree's lights out. "You little-! Jed?" My eyes immediately narrowed. "Frickin' _stronzo_!" I growled at him. "Sorry, did I _scare _you?" He smirked. I scoffed and crossed my arms, noticing how they stuck together with sweat. "Did not."

Jed looked at me with a '_uh-huh…_' face while I growled again and turned on my heel. "What are you going to the attic, hm?" I heard him following me as I stormed toward the brown door with a small silver strip stuck onto it, engraved 'ATTIC', but only just.

"Why do you care, _hm_?" I snarled back. "I don't." We stopped in front of the door. "I'm just curious." He shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a hold of the handle. "Well, go be curious somewhere else." I told him before pulling the door open. All the annoyance, the anger and the nagging urges to punch Jed in the face, disappeared as I gazed up into the darkness that led up to the attic.

My stomach seemed to have dropped to my feet and it felt like there was a heavy weight on my chest. Jed looked at me as I stood there, frozen. "Well?"

At my lack of an answer, his face turned curious. I had noticed that he had been doing that lately: looking at me curiously.

When we passed in the hall or bumped shoulders in the kitchen, he would stop, and stare at me like he didn't know what I was.

It kinda freaked me out, seeing as I was so certain that he hated me.

He confused me himself. One day he hated me, wouldn't even look at me, avoided me like the plague, and the next? It was weirdo creepy stares all around.

Freak.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Go on." I opened and closed my mouth several times, just staring at the foreboding darkness. Anything could be waiting up there. Waiting for some poor sucker like me to come strolling in unawares and then _BAM! _It'll pounce on me like a kid on a present on Christmas morning, and eat my face right off!

Slowly, keeping one eye on the shadows, I swallowed my pride and dignity and all that, and asked Jed, "Will you come with me?"

And the bastard started laughing.

"What?"

"You're scared of the dark?"

"I am not!"

"You are! You're scared of the dark! That is so pathetic!"

"Shut up! I bet you're scared of something!"

"Hah! Nothing scares me!" He chortled.

"Spiders?"

"Nope."

"Heights?"

"Hah!"

"Kryptonite?"

"What am I? Superman?"

"Clearly not!"

He was still laughing at me. _Chortling_.

"Yeah? Well you look like a freak! Like a bully! Like a meany! Like a full-fledged-butt-faced-no-good-dirty-stinkin'-piece-of-_stronzo!" _I yelled. "I DON'T NEED YOU!"

And with that, I stomped up the stairs and into the darkness. Anger quickening my heart and making me grit my teeth.

_God_, I hate him!

Once I reached the top though, I took one look around, realised that I couldn't see anything, and then…

I screamed.

Like the brave little criminal I am.

* * *

**This is pretty short, obviously...**

**I really gotta start making 'em longer. Maybe the next one...**

**So anyway, the relationship between Jed and Honey is changing! YAY! LUUUURRRVE IS BLOOOMING! **

**Nah, not yet. LOOOONG way to go till any of that sorta fun. **

**But we're getting there. SLowly but surely. =D**

**Thanks for the reviews guys!**

**Lyss.**


	32. LOWL

**BOLD**- JED

Normal- Honey

* * *

"BAH!"

**"Wha?"**

"WHO ARE-?"

**"What the-"**

"WHERE-?"

**"_Honey_? What are you-?"**

"AHHHH! GET OFFA ME!"

**"That's my leg you-"**

"ARGH!"

**"Why aren't I-?"**

"OH MY GOD!"

**"Why are you _naked_?"**

"IS THAT? OH GOD!"

**"What are you-?"**

_*Runs out of the room, holding the sheets to her body* _

"ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

**_*Pulls on undies and runs after her*_**

**"HEY! Those sheets are mine!"**

"AAAAHHH! STAY AWAY FROM ME YOU SICKO!"

_*Still running…*_

**"Sicko? _You're_ the one in _my_ bed _naked_!"**

"You were naked too! STAY BACK!"

**"It's _my_ bed. I'm _allowed_ to be naked in it!"**

"Not while _I'm IN IT_!"

**"You weren't supposed to be in there at all!"**

"Then why was I?"

**"I dunno! Maybe you were sleep walking?"**

"I DON'T SLEEP WALK!"

**"Maybe you were dreaming of my _sexiness_ and your subconscious made you come to my room, strip naked and have wild, passionate sex with my sleeping _sexy_ body."**

"ARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH! MY INNOCENT MIND!"

**"Aww, come on…"**

_*Runs faster*_

"_ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHH! ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH! !"_

**Just something I imagined up. **

**Heheh! Now it's YOUR turn to imagine it! ahahhahahhahah!**

**ahhhh...no...XD**

**Lyss.**


	33. THE ATTIC

Chapter 30

"SPPPIIIDDDAAA!"

The little 8 legged freak ran across my bare-foot and away as I stood there screaming my head off; and in case you were wondering, Jed didn't exactly bound up those stairs and throw himself in front of me, wielding a giant sword and ready to kick giant fuzzy spider butt.

He more or less sauntered casually up the stairs, waited until I had finished screaming -the spider was gone-, and then dropped one hand heavily on my shoulder and whispered; "BOO!"

Of course, I freaked.

By the time I had calmed down again, Jed had sought out and found this old oil lamp, and a box of matches.

Expertly, he lit it, and the darkness -well, most of it, anyway- _ran away_.

Like darkness does.

I stood at the top of the stairs, unwilling to move as Jed casually strolled deeper into the GIANT-ass attic. He turned to look at me when I didn't follow.

"Well? Come on then." He said impatiently. The flame from the lamp cast creepy shadows across Jed's face, making his eyes look darker, his face sharper.

"Uhh-" My voice caught in my throat and I coughed to clear it. "Uh, yeah. Right. Sure." I stepped toward him nervously, and the wooden floorboards creaked spookily beneath my weight, causing my muscles to clench in fear.

My eyes were wide, and I noticed that it was no cooler up here than it was in the rest of the house, even with the darkness. It was actually kinda stuffy. And claustrophobic.

_Nerrrgggfffshhhhhh_. I shuddered. I don't like attics.

I carefully padded over to Jed, trying to ignore the creaking floor, and then stayed closer to him then I ever had before. We started walking.

I was so scared.

"So. What are we looking for?" He asked me, not looking over his shoulder. I blinked, thinking for a moment. "Uhh….a fan. Electric fan for my room." I told him, and then, by the light of the small flame, we began our search.

The attic was more or less a might long, rectangular brick stone hall way with no lights or anything. Down the dead middle of the hall was a long, thin, dusty old carpet that seemed to crunch under my feet, and on each side of that carpet was mountains upon mountains of crap.

Big crap, small crap, skinny crap, obese crap. New crap. Old crap. Ancient old times crap.

All kinds of crap. So many kinds of crap.

It was kind of ridiculous really.

"What do you do with all this stuff?" I whispered. It was so quiet up there, I felt almost bad for speaking. Jed, on the other hand clearly had no such feelings. "Buy it. Collect it. Sell it. Burn it. Depends on what it is, how old it is and whether or not we're ever gonna use it again."

In the light of the flame, I could see dust particles floating about in almost fingernail sized clumps, and we were breathing 'em all in. Lots of the crap there was covered in the dust, or covered by what looked like 'white' sheets that were not so white anymore.

I looked around curiously, keeping my eye out for a fan -Marissa said that there was definitely one in here- while noticing the thickly dust-covered books, the ancient looking grandfather clock, and the giant, looming, dark-grey gargoyle statue with only one hand and half a face that seemed to be glaring furiously at me with it's single narrowed beady eye.

I held back a whimper, and grabbed childishly onto the hem of Jed's shirt. If he noticed, he didn't say anything.

I glanced backward at the grandfather clock. "How old are these things?" I whispered.

"Some of it dates back to the early 19th century. Real old now."

"I'd say." I muttered.

At my comment, I noticed that Jed's jaw tightened, as if he were clenching it. I frowned, confused at his reaction. Maybe he had some creepy attachment to old stuff.

That'd be weird.

We seemed to walk for ages until finally Jed stopped and pointed to our right. "There." I let go of his shirt as he passed the lamp to me and stepped off of the carpet. Stepping skilfully over the crap, Jed picked up the rather large fan with a tall stand and brought it back over to me.

"Here. Your new fan. Happy birthday, Merry Christmas."

I looked at it up and down critically, scrunching my face up in disgust.

"God, how old's this thing? A million and 5? And look! It's got cobwebs all over it!"

In the light, I saw Jed roll his silvery-something else at me, and then pick up the fan again. "Talk about gratitude! You're _welcome_!"

I rolled my eyes as well, "Yeah, yeah, anything to boost your ego. Come on. I wanna get the hell outta here."

Jed sighed and then gestured back the way we came, "Lead on, scaredy cat."

I made an indignant sound in the back of my throat.

"Hey! I'm not a _scaredy cat_! I have light! The darkness stands no chance against me now!"

I took one step, and then froze. I slowly turned my head to the right. My heart was in my throat and when I saw _the _Shadow, I thought I was going to die. Especially when it started moving.

I sorta just stood there like a brain-dead monkey staring at it, and I could feel it's shadowy eyes staring right back.

I was too scared to even scream, but my body still tried. I breathed in a giant lungful of air, before promptly coughing it all back out again, dust balls and all. I keeled over then, in a terrible coughing fit.

Tears streamed from my eyes as I fought for air. Clean air.

By the time I looked up again, the Shadow was gone.

The entire event had lasted maybe, 20-30 seconds.

Quickly, I turned to Jed, who stood there, staring at me…curiously. I shook my head, and looked around once again. Freakin' crazy.

"Still creepy…" I whispered.

It was still with me. Still _watching_ me.

I shuddered and hurried along.

I just wanted to get the hell outta there, but then, I got an idea.

"Hey Jed?" I asked sweetly as we walked. I heard him grunt from behind me.

"What's up with your dad?"

"What about my dad?" He asked sharply. I kept my back to him, holding the lamp out in front of me.

"Is he a wizard?" I asked him seriously.

"Uh…no?" He said it with an underlying a question, most likely along the lines; _'Are you mentally stable and should I be worried?'_

"Oh." I sighed, momentarily disappointed, and then;

"Is he a vampire?"

I heard Jed stop behind me and I turned around, curious.

Evil Mr. Jedediah was standing there, his silvery-something coloured eyes looking straight into mine, as the lamp cast creepy shadows across his pale white face and to finish the whole 'evil' façade, from the evil looking white fan in his hand a giant ass spider dropped to the floor and scampered off into a pile of old pillows to the left.

"A _vampire_? Vampires don't exist, Honey." Jed completely seriously.

Dimly, I realised that that was the first time he had used my name to address me.

"How do you know? Have you ever _seen_ one?"

"Uh, _no_, because they aren't _real_." He told me like he was talking to a little kid. I narrowed my eyes. "Uh _huh_. I don't believe it."

"Then you're obviously insane."

"What if you're lying to me?"

"Then I'm lying to you. What are you gonna do about it?"

"Imma stab you with a stake!"

"A _stake_?"

"Yep! Or I'll dose you in garlic spiked Holy water!"

"Holy water? Really?" He glowered at me before shaking his head. "Alright, that is _enough_. You're obviously an _idiot_. Get out of the way." He pushed me to the side, still holding the fan, and stalked down the carpet toward the stairs.

I watched his back suspiciously as he walked away, before realising where I was. With a small yelp I ran after him, the lamp swinging heavily in my hand as I did.

I slowed back to a walk behind him, gazing at his back.

He was wearing a black t-shirt with a strange white pattern winding its way across his right side.

We walked in silence for a few more moments.

"What about Caleb? Do y'know him? Jon-your dad did. Who is he?"

He was silent for a moment, still walking, then, "How do _you_ know Kale Blackwater?" He said his name with such distate, I knew that at least one of my questions were answered.

Caleb, or Kale or whoever he was, was _not_ liked in this house.

I shrugged, forgetting that he couldn't see me. "He's the guy stalking me, apparently. I'm pretty sure you asked me about that, but seeing as I was throwing up at the time…"

Jed was silent. I pursed my lips, throwing a glance over my shoulder.

My heart skipped a beat and I gasped as something _huge_ appeared in the shadows.

It had giant demon horns and spikes all over its body and claws and it was _running_ down the carpet _towards me_.

I let out a squeak before I dodged around Jed and hid in front of him, not looking back. "What are you doing?" He grumbled.

"Nothing." I mumbled back, blushing with embarrassment.

It's just my imagination, _just_ my _imagination_. I told myself.

Finally, we made it back to the stairs, and I pounded down them rather unladylikely.

I leaped down the last 4 stairs and fell through the door.

"Come on! Come on!" I urged Jed. He just rolled his eyes and slowed down, taking his time as he descended.

When he _finally_ got through the bloody door, I slammed it shut, feeling victorious as the horned monster growled in defeat, standing at the top of the stairs.

I grinned, turning to Jed, who just glared back. He still held the really gross fan, and I still had the oil lamp. Twisting the little knob on the side, I turned it off -probably, I think- and then set it down next to the attic door.

"Alrighty then lets go…" I said before walking off toward my room. Jed followed with a reluctant sigh.

"Why am I doing this?" He muttered.

Jed was annoyed.

The stupid girl was getting on his nerves. It was like wherever he turned, there she was. In the hallway, in the kitchen. It was enough to suspect her of being a witch, which he did. He watched her carefully sometimes, daring her to try something. Waiting.

Jed didn't really understand why he was helping her with the stupid fan. It wasn't really that hot of a day anyway. What a baby.

He decided that he was helping her because if he didn't, she'd probably pester him about it, or she'd be stubborn and go up there and break something. Or see something she wasn't supposed to.

Like the Book of Dreams.

He still couldn't believe she had been in his room. He'd had a lock installed on his door now, and only he had the key.

Still, Bree always managed to get in.

He walked along behind the girl, glaring at the back of her head.

What disturbed Jed most was how she had questioned him about his father's abilities.

Those hazel-green eyes of hers saw too much. They observed, they analysed, and they put the pieces together. They'd have to be careful around her, even more so than usual.

Suddenly, Jed's eyes lowered from her head, to her waist, and then to her swaying hips. Those board shorts of hers sat on her perfectly-He stopped himself before his thoughts went any further.

What was he _thinking_?

He raised his eyes forcefully back to her head, watching the way her hair shimmered in the light.

His eyes narrowed furiously.

_Amelia_, he thought, bringing her face back to mind. And then everything was clear again.

He sighed softly, his features softening as well at the thought of her.

She was all he needed.

"So…" The girl started, bringing him from his daze, "You like star-gazing huh?"

Jed grunted an affirmative, clenching his jaw. She'd been through his things, through his files, he'd smelled her on them.

This girl had seen into the world that nobody but Jed was ever allowed to enter. Jed suddenly felt violated all over again.

Didn't she know the meaning of privacy? The Book of Dreams was one thing, but those files?

They weren't just his findings, they were his thoughts on _everything_. They were like the files of his mind, and _she_ had read them. She knew what they contained.

"Yes." He growled out. "I do."

"Cool." She said, startling him. He listened for some sort of mockery, or teasing, but all he heard was appreciation. Approval.

Amelia had never approved of his passion for Astronomy. She had claimed it to be nothing but a waste of time, learning of things we'll never touch, places we'll never go.

It was all pointless.

His frown turned into something like confusion as he stared at the back of the girl's head.

"Do you know all the constellations?" She asked him, sounding…interested. "I've always wanted to learn them but there're way too many for me to remember. My brother kept telling me to learn how to recognise each one by what it looked like before tryin' to learn all the names, but I never could. I mean, you look at that centaur guy, and the stars that make him up don't even look anything like it! And I just sat there and wondered what the hell the people who came up with all the different thingys were _on_ at the time." She told him, seemingly rambling.

Jed's glare completely disappeared as he listened.

"It's not that hard." He told her, with a surprisingly small amount of spite in his voice. "You just have to learn one at a time. Study them individually. Learn everything you can, remember it, and then move on to the next one." He told her.

She threw her arms in to the air. "But that would take forever!"

"For you? Probably." He joked, surprising himself entirely.

She sighed and he walked along, wondering what the hell just came over him.

Did they just have a civil conversation?

He was going insane. The girl's idiocy was contagious.

By the time they got back to her room, Jed's glare had returned full force.

He didn't understand what was going on with him, and he didn't like it. So, he walked in the door, dumped the fan in the middle of the room and turned to leave, not glancing her way.

Just as he stepped outside, he heard her mumbled quietly, "Thanks." Before the door was slammed behind him.

He stopped in the corridor, listening to her groan in disgust, and then open the sliding glass door.

Jed stared at the ground, confusion and anger mingling with each other.

What was happening to him?

Whatever it was, he decided, it would end now.

But as he stormed off angrily toward his room, he thought about their short conversation, and how it had made him feel more accepted than any conversation with Amelia ever had.

But Honey Addams would never be Amelia.

* * *

**_'coz Amelia is a nutty weirdo, with noodle brains. _**

Love Sly: My BETA.

Whatever that is.

* * *

**So! Confusion! **

**But don't get too ahead of yourself. **

**Jed is still in HATE with Honey. He's just a little nutty in the head, seeing as the woman he loves is nowhere to be found...**

**Should I have told you that?**

**Oh well. **

**Please review! Just so I know you're there...**

**Lyss.**


	34. I, THE SUPER SEXY FEMALE

[31] I, THE SUPER SEXY FEMALE

I watched quietly as Jed dumped the fan in my bedroom with a heavy glare on his face. I stuck my tongue out at his back, walked to the door and held it for a moment before reluctantly muttering, "Thanks." and then slamming it shut with a loud bang.

What did I ever do to him? Did I annoy him, was that it?

I know I annoyed me when I started rambling nervously about the constellations back there, but after that adrenaline rush up in the attic, and the realisation that Jed was actually helping me with something, I thought the least I could do was be polite.

Obviously I won't bother anymore.

I turned around to face the fan, and cringed. The thing was covered in cobwebs and grit. I watched in slight horror as a spider crawled along the fan blade and then disappeared.

"Ewwwwwww…" I groaned, shuddering.

I imagined turning the thing on, standing in front of it, closing my eyes…and then getting pelted with hoards beyond hoards of spiders and bugs. I shuddered again, knowing that I had no chance of sleeping peacefully tonight with that image in my mind, and went over to the curtains.

After straining to pull them back, I unlocked and opened the sliding glass door that opened onto the large balcony. I flinched in discomfort at the hot air that came rushing in to my already too warm room, and then, swallowing hard and collecting all of my courage, I picked up the fan and with a loud, disgusted groan, moved it out onto the balcony.

I jumped away from it then, brushing my arms and shoulders feverishly.

"NGGGHH! Eww!" I cried, jumping back into my room.

I needed to find something to clean that thing. The kitchen, I thought.

There'd be fly spray in there, at least.

I left the sliding door open and waved my hand in front of my face, airing myself as I walked out of my bedroom door and down to the kitchen. It was slightly cooler in the high-roofed halls, and even more so in the stainless steel kitchen.

I walked toward the back of the kitchen, where all of the cupboards were, and froze in my tracks as I turned the corner.

"Bree?"

She was sitting there-wearing her normal attire even with the heat- in a chair that she had dragged in from somewhere, her feet propped up on the counter. In her lap was a massive bag of frozen peas, and next to her, was a paint can full of dark blue paint. I watched as she took out a frozen pea, leant over and dipped it in the paint, before loading it in her plastic spoon and catapulting it at the wall. It hit with a tiny thud, leaving behind a mini blue splat, joining all of the other hundred mini blue splats on the wall.

"Hey Hon-ayyy!" She crowed, painting another pea. I noticed that the tips of her fingers had been painted blue as well. It looked especially odd against her pale skin.

"Are those blueberries?" I asked her, stepping gingerly over a pea. I asked her just to make sure I wasn't imagining anything.

"Nope. They're peeeeas. Like pee. Only…harder."

I opened my mouth, shook my head and then shut it again. There was really nothing I could say to that. "Why'd you…paint them…blue?"

She loaded another pea, and let it fly. "I like blue. It's prettier than green."

I frowned at that, unwilling to come any closer. There were blue painted peas all over the floor, rolling around and leaving little blue paint trails.

"But your shirt and shoes are green."

She shrugged at that, "They look better on me."

I choked out a laugh, shaking my head, "Are you even allowed to do that?"

She stopped and tilted her head to one side. I watched, wondering how the hell her hat didn't fall off.

"I don't know." She finally said, sounding confused. Her eyes flickered to me, "Do you?"

I shook my head, "Uh, no. So, Bree? You wanna help me clean my fan?"

She stopped in mid-flick, her loaded pea falling to the ground with a splat. I raised my eyebrows as she jumped to her feet with an excited yell.

"YES!"

The bag fell off of her lap and the non-blue peas went everywhere. If Bree noticed, she didn't care, skidding around the corner of the counter she ran for the cupboards.

"I can so do that!" She giggled, "I'm so great at cleaning! We'll use some spray and deodorant and picks and wipes and hot sauce! And- no, not that, no that will never work." She rushed about the kitchen, opening cupboards and drawers, scooping out anything she deemed worthy of helping.

Apparently she had decided that she was ready because she ran up to me and dumped half of her load into my arms, throwing me a wide grin.

In slight shock, I shot her a small, nervous, crooked smile back. "Whoo!" She yelped, running for the door, several 'cleaning supplies' falling out of her arms as she went.

I followed after her, looking down curiously at the pile in my arms.

How the hell was whipped cream gonna help clean a fan, I wonder?

All the stuff was dumped in a massive pile off to the side of the fan.

I sighed in relief and rolled my shoulders, turning toward Bree and flinching back as something was shoved in my face. I looked down at it. A mask?

One of those sick-people ones, like the ones you see the creepy operation doctors wearing before they jab you with a tranquiliser, cut you open and poke around in your guts.

"What's this for?" I asked, taking it out of her hands. Looking at her, I saw that she had already put hers on.

"Rule number one: Safety. Cleanliness is a virtue." She told me like she was reading it out of a book, she sounded very serious. It was almost frightening. "And in order to spread your virtues, you must first hold the virtue true yourself. In other words, you have to be clean in order for the fan to be cleaned. Well, your breath does. How bad would it be if we cleaned all the nasties offa that thing, and we turned it on, and the air blowing out of it smelled like morning breath?" She asked me. "I. Would. Die." She said dramatically, her voice low.

I snorted. "That would be pretty gross." I nodded, still not putting the mask on.

Bree's eyebrows raised, and she narrowed her eyes, which looked pretty funny. "Put on the mask, Honey-bear." She ordered. I rolled my eyes, lifting it to my mouth.

"Fine, fine. Whatever you say oh mighty-all-knowing-Oracle."

"It's Mrs. Mighty-all-knowing-Oracle to you!"

I laughed, "Of course."

After Bree had done and undone my mask twice, she nodded and knelt down to the pile, picking out a jar of garlic and some fly-spray.

At least she was half-knowing.

"Let's do this thing." She said in a deep Arnold Schwarzenegger voice.

I grinned.

Okay, I thought the fan was disgusting at a distance, but when I got closer…let's just say, Bree made us put on safety glasses, hairnets and gardening gloves before we went anywhere near it.

I wasn't objecting. The fan was overrun with spiders. I used a whole and a half of fly spray, both of us squealing as spiders dropped off the fan and ran for the edge of the balcony, dodging our feet -I'd put thongs on- as they fled.

The sun was beating down heavily on our faces, shoulders and arms as we painfully slowly cleansed my fan of 8 legged freaks, and more than once, I glanced over at Bree and her jeans and trench coat covered body with concern.

Surely she must be boiling! I know I was, and I wasn't even wearing enclosed shoes. But she never complained, nor even looked remotely uncomfortable as she worked, spraying layer after layer of whipped cream and garlic over the stand of my fan.

I'd warned her to keep away from the buttons and other electrical stuff, so that it wouldn't just explode in our faces, and thankfully, she'd listened.

Using a fork, I poked at a cobweb that a particularly stubborn spider refused to leave and let out a sharp scream as it attacked it. It was big and black, and once I had sprayed it with half an inch of fly-spray, it was on the floor dying.

Bree's green ballet flat came down on it. "Squish!" She giggled.

I grimaced in disgust; "Eww!" I moaned. Bree laughed crazily, scraping her shoe against the ground.

An hour passed, and the fan was looking…decent. It stank of fly spray and garlic and there were still cobwebs on the inside of the wire cage surrounding the blades, but after a long, careful search, we found that there were no spiders or bugs in sight.

Bree let out a triumphant cry, pulling her mask from her mouth and letting it hang around her neck as she jumped up and down in joy. I just stood there, smiling as I pulled the mask down as well, taking off the gloves and glasses while I was at it.

"We did it! We did it!" Bree sang, jumping ferociously on the bodies of the already squashed spiders. I let out a little laugh and admired our work, and the mess we had made.

There was a pile of empty fly spray cans over near the sliding door, and a bottle of ketchup, hot sauce and a salt shaker lay abandoned next to it. There was stringy spray covering the rails of the balcony, and plastic cheese wrappers were strewn around the place.

"Awesome." I grinned, nodding in a job-well-done manner. I wiped an arm across my forehead, grimacing at the sweat there.

"Honey?" Bree stopped her happy dancing and we both turned to look at Johnathan and Marissa, standing in the doorway with raised eyebrows as they looked around. My own eyes glanced around at the mess and they widened, "Uhh…hi?"

I heard Johnathan sigh and glare accusingly at Bree as Marissa turned her attention back to me. "Would you join us please Honey? There are some things we need to discuss." She told me. Discuss? What do we need to-oh shiat. The wedding. Right. Crap.

I tugged off my gloves, hairnet, glasses and mask, trying to suppress the rising dread. I had all but forgotten the whole 'get married to save Katie' thing, which was a bit idiotic seeing as that was the reason I was here in the first place.

I dumped them in a pile next to the empty fly spray cans and walked into my room as Johnathan and Marissa stepped back to make way.

"'Course." I mumbled to them, and they started walking. I glanced back at Bree as I went to follow them out of my door and saw that she had started spraying my fan all over with a can of spray deodorant. When she saw me looking back she urged me on with a grin and a thumbs up. It was weird, because when she did that, the same sudden flood of confidence overcame me as when Corey or Potato did the same.

Bree was my…friend. I considered this as I walked behind Johnathan and Marissa staring blankly at their backs, feeling like I was on death row.

Okay, yeah; Bree was my friend, she had been for a long time now, a month come to think of it. Friend, though, the word sounded…inadequate.

Good friend? No, still too…small.

Sister? No, too much.

Best friend?

…Perfect.

My lips curled up into a smile. Bree was my best friend, I wasn't really alone. Not anymore.

But that was so weird. I mean, she's crazy, certifiably so. But then again, I probably am as well. Who knows?

I stopped walking just in time to smash oh-so-gracefully into Johnathan's shoulder blade. He spun around to look at me, confused as I tended to my nose with a wince.

He let out a small laugh and then opened a door to our left and gestured for me to enter. It led to a study, with thick carpet on the floor, a large fireplace on the far wall, couches and a coffee table on a beautiful red rug in the middle of the room, and more books that I could ever count in the bookshelves lining all four walls. There was a mahogany desk and chair set off to the side with important looking papers and books strewn around on it. There were no windows at all in the room, and the only source of light was the large chandelier hanging from the roof, and then this only emitted the dimmest of light. The room was noticeably cooler than the rest of the house. Cool enough for goosebumps to appear all over the bare skin on my arms and legs.

"Please, sit." Marissa invited, gesturing to a rather plush looking two-person couch. Hesitantly, I sat, staring up at the couple as they exchanged private looks. Finally, Marissa sat on the armchair across from me, and Johnathan began.

"Honey, you have been with us for quite some time now. You have spent time with both Jedediah and Brianna and we would like to know how you have felt being here and interacting with them both." He said slowly.

I stared at him and then at Marissa in confusion, "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean."

Marissa leant forward; one slender leg crossed over the other and looked urgently at me with her silvery-violet eyes, her hands tucked in near her stomach. "Honey, are you happy here?"

The question stunned me. I said, frowning, "It doesn't matter. I'm here, Katie's alive and I'm doing what I have to to keep her that way."

"That's not good enough!" Johnathan snapped. My heart leapt to my throat and I flinched backward into the soft back of the couch as he raised his voice at me, his face twisted in frustration, his silvery blue eyes burning. He glared at me for a moment before letting out an angry sigh and running his hands down his face. He looked away from my terrified form and began pacing angrily, running his hands through his thick hair. Nervously, I glanced to Marissa, and then to the door.

"We just want you and my son to be happy, that's all. He's been through so much, and I know…I know that you will be the one to help him through it. He has seen it and I have seen it, but it will never happen if you are not happy!"

Anger and disbelief coursed through me and I flew to my feet, "Of course I'm not freaking happy! I've spent the last month bored out of my brain, with no one but Bree to talk to, you two have been god-knows-where doing god-knows-what, Jed hates me no matter what I try to make it otherwise, and I haven't seen my friends since forever, so excuse me if I'm a little not-happy!" My face was flushed and my eyes were teary. My hands had clenched into fists and my entire body seemed to be trembling.

"_Finally_!" I was expecting anger or disappointment, but relief? Johnathan quickly walked up to me and grasped me tightly by the shoulders, his silvery-blue eyes shining. "You've finally thought about something revolving around yourself." He said softly, all traces of anger gone. I was leaning away from him slightly as I wondered what was going on.

"What…?" I whispered under my breath.

To the side, Marissa stood and walked over to us. "Honey, ever since you arrived, all you have thought about was your baby sister. Have you ever thought about how this marriage to Jedediah was going to affect you and your life?" She asked softly.

"'course I have!" I affirmed, somewhat doubtfully. Had I?

"What about your relationships, with your friends and family?" She asked. I thought for a moment as Johnathan's right hand dropped from my shoulder. We three were standing in a triangle shape as we conversed. "My friends won't care as long as I'm okay, but my family…" I shook my head, "Them I just don't know, and I'm not sure I want to."

"You weren't close?" Johnathan asked gently.

I shook my head again, "Not with my parents, no. But my brother and sister, yeah. Wait, do they get to come to the wedding?"

Johnathan and Marissa looked at each other for a brief moment and then Marissa nodded, smiling, "If you wish for them to attend, they will."

"Cool." I said softly, slowly and subtly trying to inch my shoulder away from Johnathan's grasp. He seemed to catch on immediately, and let his hand drop. "Okay, so…what? You wanted to talk to me about being more selfish?"

"No," Marissa answered, "We just want to make sure that you have thought everything through; that you are prepared. I, however, would like to begin going over the wedding plans with you, if you're ready." She stood up straighter now, her eyes beginning to shine and her hand gestures becoming more animated.

"What? Like the flowers and sh-, stuff?" I quickly corrected myself. I was embarrassed at my outburst earlier, so I was trying to remain as polite as I could be for the remainder of the conversation.

She nodded excitedly, clasping her hands together above her chest.

"Uh, alright then, but first…Can I, like, ask you guys something?"

"Of course."

"I want to know about Caleb, or Kale or whatever his name is. I have to know, and I have to know what that was the other day at the shops. Y'know, with the whole 'I am your master' thing. What is going on?" Immediately, the atmosphere grew tense and the couple looked at each other, for much longer this time. Johnathan sighed, "There are many things that you don't know Honey."

I let out a short laugh, "Yeah, that's why I'm asking about it."

"Well, Kale Blackwater," He gestured for Marissa and I to sit down on the sofa whilst he took the armchair across from us, "is a member of the…secret society that we are a part of."

"Secret society?" My interest was piqued at this and excitement lit up in my eyes. I sat up straighter and gave him my complete attention.

"Yes, and because Marissa and I are the…the oldest members, we are in charge and I, therefore am known as Master Moonblood and Marissa, Lady Moonblood." I noticed how carefully he was choosing his words as he spoke. I noticed how even as he admitted these things, he was still hiding something.

"Does the society have a name?"

"No."

"How do you join?" Marissa placed one hand on my shoulder and gently turned me toward her.

"You must to become one of us." She whispered, her voice eerie and the look in her silvery-violet eyes intense and meaningful. I opened my mouth to question her further.

'What are you?' I was about to ask, but was interrupted by a chilling presence with a cutting voice.

"Mother."

Our three heads turned in perfect synch to the doorway where Jed was standing, staring darkly at his parents. His messy black hair stuck up in every which way and formed a fringe over his forehead, shrouding his eyes in shadows. In the dim light, his silvery-something eyes shone with menace. The temperature in the room dropped dramatically and the atmosphere was dark and foreboding. Marissa's hand quickly retracted from my shoulder. Looking at their faces, they seemed almost…scared. Of Jed; their own son.

"Jed," Marissa said at last, her voice strained, "We were just discussing the wedding."

He let out a dark laugh that clearly translated to 'yeah, right'. "I'm sure you were mother. So," He turned his menacing glare toward me, "What colour scheme have you decided on?" He asked sarcastically. Sensing the tension between the family members, I decided to pretend that I didn't notice and tried to lighten the mood in the room.

I shot a blinding fake smile in his direction, "Pink." I told him. "Bright pink."

I wasn't sure, but I thought that the menace dropped down a couple of levels until it could be considered as simple annoyance and the laugh, although still dark, was more amused than rude. "Cute." He muttered before subtly rolling his eyes.

I scoffed, "What? Okay, you're the groom; you should be here helping! It's your duty as my fiancé."

"No, planning a wedding is a woman's job."

"Oh, so getting married is a job now?"

"It is when it's to you."

"Ooh, the things you say!" I rolled my eyes and barely suppressed a smile. I pretended to not notice the raised-eyebrow-look that Marissa and Johnathan exchanged. I turned to them with another blinding fake smile, bursting with fake enthusiasm. "Well, let's get to it, shall we? How long do we have 'til the wedding?"

At this, Marissa seemed to become almost uncomfortable. "Ah, well, the actual date has been bumped up to just under two weeks from now."

For a moment I thought I would suffocate and die on that saliva I was choking on in my throat. "That soon?" I coughed out.

Marissa nodded in affirmation. "Yay…" I cheered dryly before coughing again.

"Hey, don't hurt yourself." Jed said, having walked into the room and standing a bit further away from me than a normal person having a conversation with another normal person would stand.

"Don't worry, I won't." He rolled his eyes again "Stronzo." I whispered.

"Okay!" Marissa said loudly, "We'll get to it, then." She went over and began picking up seemingly random papers from the desk and then gathering them into a messy pile in her arms. She floated quickly over to the door, smiling brightly at the men and then at me. "Come, Honey. We must do our duty as women." She said humorously, but her voice still strained. I followed her, shaking my head and glancing back just once to the study just in time to catch Jed staring at my butt.

I hurried round the corner knowing that I was as red as a lobster.

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at the floor as I followed Marissa down the hall. I glanced up when I felt her eyes on my head but quickly ducked it again when I saw her smiling knowingly at me.

He is just a male and I am a female and I am super sexy in my boardies and he thought I looked alright, but that doesn't mean anything, right? It doesn't mean what Marissa thinks it means, it doesn't mean what my body wants it to mean—Agh, That's not-… Oh gosh.

Come on: this is _Jed _we're talking about; he_ hates_ me.

Then again, maybe he just hates parts of me. Parts that don't include my butt.

As weird as it sounded though, I didn't have much of a problem being perved on by my tall, dark, muscly, stronzo of a fiancé.

Is that a bad thing? Now, if only he actually _liked _me.

* * *

**Hello, this chapter may be a bit higgledy-piggledy because it was written over a span of like, four months, but it was the best I could come up with. **

**So, yeah, enjoy, FINALLY. **

**Lyss. :D**


	35. IS THIS BAD CONVO WEEK OR WHAT?

IS THIS BAD CONVO WEEK OR WHAT? [32]

It had been 4 hours. I was _done_. But did Marissa think so? No.

I could _so_ tell where Bree had gotten it from.

"I was thinking we could have a mixture of crimson and peach roses for the flowers in the boxes beside the alter and along the aisle, and for your bouquet, and we could add little diamond crystals and a lovely silk ribbon. And then for the bridesmaid's dresses we could order in dresses of the same shade of crimson as the roses with straight necklines that end about here." She indicated to halfway down her chest. "And around the waist or perhaps a bit higher, long thick peach sashes. Your own dress has to be white—." I came out of my trance-like state when she stopped suddenly, and glanced up at her where we sat on my bed in my bedroom surrounded by wedding magazines and cut-outs of every different culture and time you could imagine. I sat cross-legged while Marissa laid herself out gracefully upon the rumpled sheets. My new fan was rotating next to me, creaking and scraping loudly as it turned. I'd have to find some oil if I was going to sleep tonight.

I watched her with a cautious confusion as she leant forward slightly with raised eyebrows, her voice was almost too soft to hear, but I managed to get the gist, "Are you a virgin?"

I almost fell over and died with embarrassment. Choking on my spit I got out, "Uh," I cleared my throat, "Yeah?" But it wasn't over.

She nodded, seemingly relieved. Then, "You do know what happens on the night of a couple's marriage?"

I wiped a hand over my mouth and cringed, clearing my throat again. "Uh, yes, Marissa, I do. But…that's _not_ going to happen on my wedding night."

Marissa started and looked at me in shock, sitting up straighter. "Why not?"

"Um, because."  
"Because why?"

"I'm 16."

"Girls these days are having sex much younger than you!"

As she said _the_ word I cringed and let out a disgusted sound, scrunching up my face and turning it away from her.

"Is it because the idea of a man's penis disgusts you?"

"Okay!" I jumped off the bed and tried to accept that this conversation was really happening. I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair, pacing. "Look, ma'am, I really do not feel comfortable discussing this with you."

"Is it because you don't feel comfortable with your body?"

"Oh my god! This is your son we're talking about!"

"Yes, my son and your fiancé. Are you not in the least attracted to him?"

I stopped pacing and looked at her, gesturing wildly with my hands as I spoke, "Alright, look. I am perfectly comfortable with my body the way it is. I have not had _sex_ because I have never had a boyfriend before in my life nor did I want to have one before I was forced into this."

"You weren't forced—"

At the look on my face, Marissa stopped and gestured for me to continue.

"All I have to do to keep Katie safe is to marry your son, as in; get up at the alter, exchange rings, say 'I do' and then drive off into the sun set. _Sex _never had anything to do with it!"

"But how will you spend the rest of your lives together without any physical affection?"

"I'm planning on not even seeing him after the wedding, Marissa. He'll live here, I'll go home, and life will go on."

"But…but what would be the point?" The poor woman looked horrified.

"Katie will be alive. That's the point. That's the point of all of this, that's all that'll ever be the point. You knew that… right?"

For a moment she didn't answer. Her face was filled with grief and she had a far-off look in her eyes. Then, she seemed to come back to now, "Oh, yes. Of course. Your _sister_." She said that word like it was a curse, and my face automatically darkened, my respect for the woman dropping a notch or two. Her own face had lost all of its enthusiasm. It was almost as if she were sitting there thinking, 'There's no point. Why should I even bother?'

But what did she think would happen? Did she think that Johnathan would steal me from my life, bring me here, I'd meet Jed, we'd fall in love and soon enough she'd have little grandchildren running about the place? She clearly had no idea.

We barely spoke after that. I sat back down on the bed and we began looking through the magazines again. Pointing and murmuring every now and again, but she wasn't into it anymore and I didn't care from the beginning. At last, she closed the magazine, shot me a small, sad smile and told me that we'd continue tomorrow.

I shot her my own small smile as she gathered up her things and left.

The door clicked shut behind her and I let out a humongous sigh of relief and fell back onto my bed. I found myself wishing I still had my mobile. The day after I had seen the 'missing' article in the newspaper and told Bree about talking to Corey, my phone had mysteriously disappeared from the corner of my computer table.

That same day, I had discovered that there was no other phones available for use anywhere in the house, at least where I was allowed. Plus, the computer they had given me, although totally awesome, had no internet.

'No contact with the outside world.' The message was clear and painful. I was trapped until my wedding day, and perhaps even after that, but I wouldn't try to escape until after then. I didn't want to risk breaking the deal.

There was a loud and demanding knock on my door that scared me out of my thoughts. Heart pounding and trying to calm my breathing, I answered it.

"This is the 3rd time I've seen you today, y'know that?"

As an answer, Jed thrust a can of spray oil at me. "Use it or I smash the damn thing." He growled, his face dark.

My eyebrows rose. "Is it really that loud?"

"I can hear it from the freaking kitchen." He ground out with an angry sigh.

"Oh shit, sorry." I apologized sincerely.

"It's…" He let out a breath, the anger and annoyance on his face fading away. Now he just looked…tired. "Don't worry about it. Just…use the oil."

I nodded, and then we just stood there awkwardly. I found myself sizing him up. He was seriously three times the size of me. I could see his long, lean muscles beneath his almost translucent skin, but I couldn't see any green or blue veins winding through them. Just muscle. I wouldn't be able to fight him off if I tried. I doubted if I would be able to outrun him either.

I wondered if he worked out a lot. To me, his strength looked kinda, natural. Like how Marissa was so graceful when she walked. It was just something they were born with. I couldn't imagine Marissa practicing how to float with a pile of dictionaries on her head, or Jed hanging out at some gym lifting weights and getting all sweaty and gross. He seemed above that, like he didn't have to try that hard.

Jed watched me watching him, I didn't notice until he began speaking. "I heard you talking to my parents earlier."

"Eavesdropper." The accusation left my mouth before I could stop it. He glared, anger returning as quickly as it left.

"I have to watch what they say around you. I told them that I'd be the one to fill you in on everything but they're just too impatient."

"Fill me in on what? Your secret society?"

"Is that what they called it?" To this I nodded and he sighed in annoyance, his glare deepening. "I see. What did they tell you about it?"

I shook my head as I thought, "N-Not much. They just said how Caleb was a part of it, and then I asked how to join and they said…that you have to be 'one of us'." I stared at him imploringly. "What does that mean?"

"It means…" He said, his voice tight, "That they've said too much." He let out a low, primal growl. "I warned them about this."

"What are you hiding?" I demanded. Jed stared at me, his face filled with growing anger. I immediately backed down, stepping back away from him.

"Until we are…_married_." He spat out the word. "It is none of your business!" He growled at last before turning and storming away down the corridor.

I stood there in shock, and then poked my head out the door, eyes wide and mouth pursed. "Oh my god…" I breathed. "_Psycho_."

The next morning, first thing I did was hunt down Johnathan. I went straight to the study, rapped on the door thrice and walked in. Jed had made it clear that there were things that were off-limits for his parents and myself to discuss, so I decided to avoid those subjects altogether lest Jed found out and killed me, but I did have one thing that I still needed to know about, and after our conversation yesterday, Marissa was crossed off the list, so all that was left was Jono.

He looked up from the desk as I entered in my blue boardies and red billabong shirt that was two sizes too big. My hair was up in a pony-tail and I meant business.

"Honey, good morning! What a pleasant surprise." His smile was friendly, and it made me…feel good that someone like him was happy to see _me_.

"G'mornin' Johnathan." I smiled back happily and then I got serious. "I need you to tell me everything there is to know about Caleb; who he is, how he can do that mind trick thing, and why he's after me."

His smile slipped from his face and he sighed, wiping a hand over his mouth. I walked further into the room letting the door swing shut behind me. Goosebumps crawled across my skin and I shivered. Johnathan walked around the desk and sat down in the arm chair across from the double couch. He indicated for me to sit, and once I had, he begun.

"Kale Blackwater." His voice was tired and from the look in his eyes, I guessed that he probably hadn't slept much last night.

"Kale came from a good family. His parents were wealthy and they loved him, but they didn't have much time on their hands to really raise him. They were on our Council and they were good people.

Then one day, without any warning, they disappeared. We searched and searched but couldn't find anything. It was Kale who found their remains. He blames me for the death of his parents. He says that I should've saved them and that I didn't because I didn't care. How could I not care about the death of my _best friend_?" Johnathan's head was down, and I was really worried that he was going to start crying. His voice was thick with emotion and his entire body was tense, his hands clenched.

I leant forward, sitting on the edge of the couch and half-reached out to him, wondering if I should console him in some way. "'Sorry." Was all I came up with. I was feeling really guilty by now. I should've left it alone. Dammit, its just one bad conversation to another.

I wondered if I should maybe leave, but just as I tensed my body to stand up Johnathan started talking again.

"Kale is full of anger and hatred, and ever since his parents passed he's been out for revenge. Revenge against me. My guess, Honey, is that he discovered our deal and now, he's going to try and use _you_ to get to my family and ultimately, me."

My eyebrows had risen in disbelief and my mouth was half-opened, "But…that doesn't make sense." I protested. "Caleb—Kale, or whatever, why would he go after me like he was, _pursuing_ me, if he was just trying to hurt _you_?"

"He's most likely wanting to make you break the deal."

"And again; how is that a bad thing for _you_? So what? You lose some girl that you made a deal with to save her poor, dying sister when she was 6? It's not like there's a million and one other girls that would _kill_ to get the chance to marry your son." I shook my head and slumped backward into the couch in exasperation. "I don't...I don't understand, _any_ of this. I don't understand why you chose _me _of all girls, I don't understand why Caleb is after me, I don't understand what ya'll are hiding or why, and I don't understand why something this _shit_ has to be so darn difficult. I mean, you get kidnapped, you get married, and you go home, the end. Why can't it just be like that?" I shook my head again.

"Believe it or not Honey, we _care_ about you." I almost gave myself whiplash as my head spun 'round to face him. "This may make you feel uncomfortable, but I've been watching over you your entire life. I cannot yet explain how but I have the power—"

"Over shadows, I know." At his surprised look I let out a nervous laugh, "It wasn't really that hard to figure out. In the hospital, that shadow…_the_ Shadow, lead me to the garden you were waiting in, and it lead me away from that gang waiting for some poor sop like me in the alley when I was 14, and it was the monster that I wasn't scared of that was hiding under my bed; it was the _real_ monster that scared away all of the fake ones that I was terrified of. And up in the attic yesterday, it was the shadow that was spying on his son and future daughter-in-law when they went up there together to get a fan."

"You thought of me as a monster?" His voice was low and there seemed to be something akin to hurt in his wise eyes.

I scoffed, "What else would a 7 year old think? How could I have known that the big, black shadow that followed me everywhere and watched everything I did was actually a rich middle-aged man with silvery-blue eyes who wears the same suit everyday of his life?"

He considered this for a moment, his face clearing, "Touché."

I nodded, smiling a little, "So, is there anything else I need to know about Caleb?"

Johnathan tilted his head back and thought for a moment, "Nothing other than the fact that he's dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. When you're with us, Honey, you are completely safe, but as soon as you step off of the green grass around the house, you are in very real danger."

I looked at him with an expression that said, '_geez, glad you told me that, thanks._' "That's not very assuring."

He smiled at me, "Just keep on the grass."

* * *

**'Sup, I'm trying to get some form of a plot flowing and I haven't written anything in a while so forgive me if anything's out-of-whack (Repeated convo bits, weird personality changes from the characters etc.) I'll read through the whole thing again and try to get the feel back. **

**God, I'm so sick right now...:(**

**Please review for this sick author who is trying her best to make up for all those months that she abandoned her poor baby that is Promises Forgotten.**

**Lyss. ;P**


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